During the 2024 Italian GP one curious radio message from McLaren caught everyone’s attention. Lando Norris’ race engineer told him that he’s allowed to race his teammate Oscar Piastri but added, “Papaya Rules” at the end of the message. Luckily, the McLaren CEO, Zak Brown was asked about it and he explained the meaning behind this new terminology.
During the F1’s Italian GP post-race show, Brown revealed the three key rules communicated via the code word. He explained, “Race each other respectfully. Give each other enough room and don’t touch each other.”
McLaren says it will review Oscar Piastri’s lap one pass on Lando Norris in the #ItalianGP to see if it complied with its ‘Payapa Rules’.https://t.co/e4yXail4yl#F1
— Jon Noble (@NobleF1) September 1, 2024
He later added that the two McLaren men followed the rules in how they raced. From the very start, both Norris and Piastri were racing each other hard but gave one another enough room. Piastri’s first lap move on his teammate was aggressive but fair and they kept it up throughout the race as per the Papaya Rules.
However, this scenario earned McLaren a lot of criticism on social media and from on-ground F1 experts. The disapproval was on a similar scale as the Hungarian GP team orders saga, once again in Norris’ favor.
While the British team had assured the #4 driver in Hungary that he would need Piastri’s help for the championship, their lack of team orders implementation in Italy wasn’t aligned with that promise.
McLaren’s mistakes at the Italian GP
After the Italian GP, Norris is still 62 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen. He could’ve reduced the gap further by earning three additional points. Even though winning the title for him is a slim chance, anything is possible with the fickle nature of F1. The Woking outfit has the opportunity to help the Brit but swapping positions wasn’t even discussed at Monza.
This is one of the reasons McLaren is being criticized a lot after the race in Monza. The other reason was the one-stop strategy call that earned Ferrari the win. Had both McLaren men been pitted only once, they would’ve easily secured a 1-2 finish and maximized points in the weekend, which is a necessity at this juncture. However, it wasn’t an option for the Woking outfit because of the drivers’ inputs.
Both Norris and Piastri weren’t confident in their tires. Norris reported on multiple occasions his front left tire was graining faster than expected. His teammate had the same problem which is why the one-stop strategy was out of consideration. Overall, the Italian GP went down as a disappointment for McLaren as the title battle has only eight races left.
