“Need McLaren to Be More Supportive of Lando”: Nico Rosberg Stands With Norris in Oscar Piastri Tussle

Having locked out the front row for the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren looked set for a comfortable win in Monza. However, the opening lap battle between the two McLaren’s cost Lando Norris two positions. It is the opinion of the experts that the Woking-based outfit needs to implement team orders and specify their number 1 driver; and Nico Rosberg is on Norris’ side.

McLaren has been clear with its position on the status of the drivers. Despite Norris being in the driver’s championship hunt, the team has allowed the two drivers to race each other, albeit under ‘papaya rules’. However, Rosberg thinks that McLaren needs to start favoring Norris and start using occasional team orders to support their championship hopes. He even pointed out how not asking Piastri to hold the position at the start not only hurt Norris in the fight against Max Verstappen but also cost the team a race victory.

In a conversation on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Rosberg explained, “The problem is, I think even more important for all of us is that Lando gets a shot at the championship and joins that fight against Max because that would be the most thrilling thing… And for that to happen we need McLaren to be a bit more supportive of Lando and start introducing the occasional kind of hold position action.”

It was the move from Piastri on the opening lap that allowed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to climb up and eventually utilise a one-stop strategy as opposed to McLaren’s two-stopper to win the race by a margin of 2.5 seconds.

Did Piastri follow the ‘papaya rules’ when overtaking Norris on lap 1?

Once Norris got past Leclerc after the first round of pitstops, Norris was told by his engineer Will Joseph that he was free to race Piastri but both drivers would need to obey the ‘Papaya rules’.

However, it was not clear to many what exactly the papaya rules entail until it was explained by team principal Andrea Stella. As per a report by Planet F1, Stella explained, “Our recommendation is always racing with the papaya rules, whereby, when the car is papaya, like you are always careful with any other competitor, but if the car is papaya, you take even extra care.”

Norris simplified it for the fans when he was asked about it after the race, “Just don’t crash. That’s all,” he remarked.

However, Stella’s comments on the opening lap move from Piastri suggested that he might not have heeded the rules completely. Stella mentioned that the team needs to analyze and review what happened on the first lap more closely and only then they will be able to learn what to do in similar situations in the future.