Stella reevaluates ‘Papaya Rules’, sparking debate on team dynamics and strategy at McLaren F1.
McLaren F1 is at a crossroads as Stella reconsiders team strategies and Norris faces challenges, intensifying the race dynamics amidst rising stakes.
It’s finally the breakthrough moment at McLaren F1. The orange car was arguably the fastest at Monza, but once again (one too many) this year, victory eluded the Papaya.
Now in the championship, Lando Norris is 62 points behind Max Verstappen. It could have been 52 (53 without yesterday’s fastest lap) had he won at Monza. And 45 had he not let Oscar Piastri pass him back in Hungary. But with ifs…
Two reasons for anger, especially for Norris fans, can be pinpointed: the first lap, during which Oscar Piastri attacked Lando Norris; and the strategy, since McLaren F1 did not attempt a one-stop strategy with one of the two cars (like Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz).
But it’s mainly the first lap that is being discussed. Why wasn’t Oscar Piastri prohibited from attacking Lando Norris before the Grand Prix, especially since the Brit is better placed in the championship (Oscar Piastri is now 106 points behind Max Verstappen and 44 behind Lando Norris)?
Moreover, Norris had to slow down to avoid crashing into his teammate, thus allowing Charles Leclerc to overtake him. And we know what followed…
Just a week ago, Andrea Stella, the team principal, insisted that McLaren F1 would refuse to issue team orders or name a number one. A team that would do so would not be a “healthy team” according to his words (see our article).
But since then… if one were a bit harsh, one might say that McLaren F1 seems to have turned toxic! For Andrea Stella has initiated a clear change of direction after the Italian Grand Prix, which clearly made him think.
“Both drivers are mathematically in contention to do it [win the drivers’ championship], but Lando is obviously in the best position from a numbers standpoint.”
“We are battling against Max Verstappen, so if we are to support a driver, we absolutely must choose the one who is in the best position.”
“Already in our conversations before the race, we recognized that Lando is in the best position from a championship standpoint, so we will have conversations with Oscar, with Lando, and together, then we will define our rules of engagement”
Are the Papaya rules, sometimes mocked on social networks, already dead?
“We need to examine the first lap, but this must be done in a detailed and specific manner, taking into account the video and the drivers’ expectations. We will then see what we can derive from this situation to adjust the future, while keeping in mind that we want to take our chance with Lando in the drivers’ championship. We will have to review the situation with the drivers, watch the videos, understand their point of view, and then we will evaluate together whether they respected the rules or not.”
“We will learn lessons, if there are any, and we will adjust the Papaya rules so that they allow us to continue in the best possible way in both the constructors’ and drivers’ championships. We must now be able to recognize that the constructors’ championship is not the only possibility.”
“Even from the drivers’ perspective, with the performance we currently have in the car, and the challenges we see at Red Bull, it is entirely possible. So, if we can win both as a team, we need to put the team and Lando in a position to aim for both championships.”
The strategy in question too…
After the team orders, the strategy is also a topic of debate at McLaren F1. Why not attempt a single stop, as Ferrari brilliantly did with Charles Leclerc?
Is Andrea Stella also going to question his team’s choices?
“Our car traditionally tends to be very good on the rear tires, but when we deal with ‘graining’ at the front, we tend to be on the aggressive side.”
“This made us a bit nervous, especially after Lando locked the front-left. For us, normally, this would have been the symptom that the tires were starting to struggle.”
McLaren F1 was too nervous, according to Andrea Stella… This also mars the image of a team that wants to be world champion.
“Looking back, there wasn’t enough degradation for Leclerc to beat us on a two-stop strategy because we missed it by a few laps, but a few laps is a lot.”
“So, it remains to be seen whether we could have won the race or not. But it seems there was potentially more life in the tires than we could have anticipated.”
“Obviously, everyone entered the race with doubts because no one used hard tires [in free practice], and when you’re 3rd, it’s easier to say, let me try a single stop, than when you’re leading. If it doesn’t work, the end of the race will be a real struggle.”
“With hindsight, especially with Oscar, we simply tried to respond to Leclerc, so I think the victory could have been possible.”
However, Andrea Stella refuses to believe that McLaren F1 necessarily had to secure the double, because in his view, the Ferrari was as fast as the orange car at Monza.
“There might be a misunderstanding about the fact that McLaren was by far the fastest car. I think Leclerc was as fast as McLaren because he was able to stay with Oscar in the first stint, and normally when you have dirty air and can stay with the race leader, you are at least as fast as them. This usually leads to some degradation, as was the case for Leclerc in the latter part of the first stint. And even in the second stint, he was behind two McLarens and could keep up with them.”
“This weekend, Ferrari was just as competitive as us, at least with Leclerc, which is somewhat bad news for us, and they did a good job exploiting some of their strengths. But at the same time, it’s good news because we have more cars that can take points off Red Bull.”
“In fact, I think it’s better news for us and we need to ensure we maximize the potential available in the car, even if it means that on this type of circuit, Ferrari will pose a very serious challenge for the victory.”
A mental issue for Norris on the first lap?
Every time he has started from pole position in his career (7 times, including twice in sprints), Lando Norris has lost the lead on the first lap.
Does he have a mental problem, perhaps, with the pressure of starts? Not according to Andrea Stella.
“Lando is doing very well, he got the pole position at Zandvoort, the pole position here, and if there is anything to do with Lando, it’s to tweak a few small things in the race that might help him capitalize on a pole position—like the one we had here at Monza.”
“I think if we look at his first lap, we’ll review it together and maybe see that there are two or three things we could have done a little better.”
Position exchanges…
Why not have mandated Piastri to stay behind or revert behind his lead? Was it really not time to favor Norris? Verstappen says he no longer has F1 for the title.
“Max is very strong with his words as on the track! He obviously knows that the car he is driving right now seems to be giving him some trouble. But we need to better exploit the opportunities that Red Bull seems to be offering at the moment, avoiding the usual situation of battling just for podiums.”
“We are fighting against Max Verstappen, so we absolutely must choose the one best placed to beat him, and that’s why we are going to evolve our rules.”
“Suppose we conclude that at the second chicane, Lando braked too early and Oscar naturally had the opportunity to take the lead, then what does that mean if you are number one? Do you swap the next lap?”
“It’s very difficult to implement this definition in the real world. It’s better to continue working as a team, get the input from both drivers, and work together to pursue this goal in both championships, as it now seems that the drivers’ championship is definitely a possibility.”
“We were a bit cautious before Monza, but I now see that McLaren can compete on circuits where we weren’t competitive last year. We have a very competitive package overall, and it could be a very important weapon for Lando in particular in the quest for the championship.”
And why was the possibility of swapping Piastri and Norris’s positions in the final meters of the Italian Grand Prix not seized?
“We didn’t think about it.”
“We considered other solutions during the race to ensure that Lando had his own opportunities.”
“But we didn’t consider the swap because we were always ready to put as much pressure as possible on Leclerc and push him to have a problem with the front left, like a wheel lock or a run-off in one of the chicanes.”
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