McLaren tells the driver’s line we cannot cross “with ‘No papaya rules’ in force

With McLaren with the aim of fighting since the beginning of the season F1 2025, how will Oscar Piasstri and Lando Norris fight?

The teammate Dynamic between Piastri and Norris is completely equitable, in contrast to the arrangements found in Red Bull and Mercedes this season.

Andrea Stella: McLaren reviewed the F1 2024 battles during winter

With Red Bull and Mercedes using driver alignments with a dynamic number two and number two more clearly defined when Liam Lawson and Kimi Antonelli enter the sport as rookies along with illustrious teammates, McLaren has two young pilots and hungry anxious to achieve their first important individual successes in F1 after claiming their first victories of Grand Prix the last season.

Lando Norris proved to be the artist most consisting of F1 2024, which led the British driver who finally obtained the support of McLaren while introducing ‘papaya rules’ to throw more weight behind the offer of the Norris title.

These rules began as simple compromise rules for wheel battles, evolving to become clearer instructions for Piastri to play a secondary role for Norris, a role in which Piastri settled in a collaborative spirit in the final stages of the championship.

But the points classification has been restored for this season, and, with Piasstri, now entering its third season in Formula 1, the perspective of an even closer battle between the two McLaren pilots is very realistic.

To this is added a new extension of the contract for Piastri that is reported that it takes it financially along with its most experienced teammate, as well as McLaren who currently enjoys the label of favorites after a solid preseason test with the MCL39.

The issue of how the papaya rules will be implemented this season, to ensure that Norris and Piasstri do not become expensive clashes or trips in what will surely be a nearby championship fight, was approached by the head of the team Andrea Stella before the opening of the season in Australia.

“In Formula 1, you must take advantage of all the opportunities to see that you can possibly create an even stronger base,” he explained.

“This goes from the technical level to the operational level and also at the sports and racing level, including internal competition.

“So definitely, like any other team, we have analyzed what could have done better and what we had done well last year and, in reality, we were quite proud of what we achieved, even in terms of internal competition: respect, the relationship inside and outside the car.”

Referring to incidents such as Piastri’s bold movement in Norris in Monza last season, a movement that cost Norris expensive when he fell to third place behind Charles Leclerc, Stella said that a review of such incidents was carried out.

“The face -to -face races that sometimes occurred between Lando and Oscar, offered a couple of situations that we checked together,” he said.

“But he offered a great majority of how we want to see our two pilots work together, compete together, and this really gave us a good reference on how we want to continue for the future.

“So I think it was a very collaborative and support process. And I feel that we are entering this season in a very strong position. “

More about McLaren and Formula 1

F1 2025 driver’s salaries: Who are the best paid drivers on the network?

Zak Brown Cars Collection: legendary machines owned by McLaren Boss

Lando Norris: There are lines that we cannot cross

When asked if a rule has been introduced during the winter to reduce the possibility of clashes together with Piastri, Norris said that the approach that is being taken is one of a mutual interest in hard careers but fairly.

“There are no papaya rules. There is nothing. We are free to compete and happy to go and compete, ”he said.

“Of course, we have to know that we will be a lot among them this season. I know we are, but our last strength was to help each other and always giving it a good amount of space, fair of races, that kind of thing.

“That is something that was our strength last season, and we need to maintain that.

“That is one of our most important things in the team, one of our greatest objectives. So yes, it will always be difficult because we want to hit each other. That is inevitable at the end of the day. “

The strongest instruction given at this point, Norris explained, is to ensure that there is no damage to the cars.

“At this time, there are lines that we cannot cross as teammates,” he said.

“We must keep both cars on the track and not let any rubble fly, but, apart from that, we are happy to compete. We are excited to compete against each other and push ourselves to the limit. “

With McLaren, leaving at the end of the F1 2024 season to impose team orders, Norris was asked if he believes a call will be made earlier this year to strengthen a pilot championship thrust if one driver is ahead of the other.

“We are not yet at that time, so I have no idea. We are focused this weekend, ”he said.

“I don’t care about the future at this time. I don’t care what happens after the season.

“If something comes like last season, I am sure, because this is how things work, if someone deserves to have a better opportunity to win the pilot championship, while we protect the interests of the team to win the builders as we did, we play it perfectly and play it well. Then we will see. Ask me again in six or seven months!”

The hero of the home Piastri explained that everything is “very clear” about how the duo will compete.

“I mean, we are starting from a clean slate and, ultimately, who will be faster on the track will be the one that wins and ends higher,” he said.

“So yes, we are clear about how we are going to the season, and that is running to each other and trying to fight for the victories. Everything is very clear.

“We have discussed a lot of last season and how we achieved the end of last year. And I think this year, from zero again, we will both do our best to win. “

Read below: Red Bull Go ‘All-in’ with RB21 updates for Australian GP Opener