McLaren’s racing rules were placed under the microscope after the Singapore Grand Prix by PlanetF1.com readers, after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made contact.
Almost 2,000 of you voted and it was a 65-35 split on that moment being acceptable or a racing incident, compared to it being the wrong move on Norris’ part – but many of you also highlighted a deeper issue within McLaren itself. Don’t forget, if you wanted to feature in one of our Postbox features in future, you can either comment on our stories or send an email to planetf1editor@planetsport.com with the subject line ‘PF1 Postbox’.
McLaren papaya rules ‘a hole they’ve dug for themselves’ after Norris/Piastri contact
Alexandra Peller: In terms of F1 racing rules yeah it was fine especially as it at the start on one of the tightest tracks on the calendar.
However in terms of how McLaren has gone racing this season then the places should have been reversed. This now is likely to end in a collision and double DNF for McLaren that could open the door wide open for Verstappen.
Slug Ger: The move was fair and legitimate, and it was the opening lap.
I don’t think the root of Piastri’s frustration is necessarily the incident in isolation, but rather in the context of the concept of Papaya Rules, and the inconsistent manner in which McLaren management have executed them, with a possible perception of a bias towards Norris in recent race weekends.
It’s a hole McLaren have dug for themselves.
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BlueDahlia: The shame is that both drivers are getting grief from fans for something which is McLaren’s fault – Papaya rules. In an ideal world I’d like to see Oscar and Lando jointly confront Zak and Andrea and persuade them that the best thing for racing and McLaren’s reputation would be for them to dump the rules and let the two drivers just race. I don’t think either driver deserves the flak for this. Put the blame at McLaren’s door, where it belongs.
Steven West: The move was fine, although he got off light penalty-wise. Was it fine if you’re looking at it from the overly-managed, participation trophy, McLaren driver management perspective? I guess so. It has to be gloves off now for Piastri – the team is clearly going to favor Norris.
marcx666: I have no problem with it, I’d like more aggressive driving, like in Indycar, the only problem is the one McLaren created for themselves with the “papaya rules”, supposedly being fair racing and no contact, and then interfering constantly to manipulate results based on factors outside their drivers control.
NP: Acceptable by the rules, but not as a teammate. I hope Oscar stops being nice, following team orders to let Lando by, and shuts the door the next time this happens.
John Champion: In any other case, I would 100% agree it was acceptable. It’s racing at the highest level and nothing is gifted to you… unless your name is Norris.
And that’s the issue here. McLaren created this mess themselves with those weird team orders. Piastri was naive enough to think he’d get the same treatment at some point. A hard lesson for him — but my guess is that this will fire him up enough to win the WDC, and ironically, Norris won’t benefit from it at all. He’s unleashed the lion in Piastri.
Conto Dorro: Nobody forced Piastri to stay in 4th. And he wasn’t exactly glued to the back of Norris’ gearbox was he?
ricarhdb: The move was acceptable but so were Piastri’s complaints. With Monza McLaren have created a situation where incidents like this will be looked at differently than it being “just a racing incident”. They have themselves to blame for that and not Oscar.
BillyBob: The pass was perfectly acceptable in my opinion. Just like I thought it was perfectly acceptable for Norris to lose a position in Monza after his pitstop. The only difference is McLaren didn’t intervene here, which is favouritism.
Hamilton and Alonso trade barbs: ’18 years of…’
Ex Pitlane Monkey: Frenemies, and always poking fun at each other. Good to see!
TheBoss: Great banter from veteran to rookie!
ArisR: I am a tifoso. However Lewis was lucky that he was not blackflagged on the spot and with points added on him.
Five points for what he did was a joke.
Kumba: Haha! Funny stuff 😂
If Alonso had a response, it should be “Unlike you, I managed to win a race with Ferrari. And from the first try” 😉
martface sam: I’m no fan of Hamilton at all but that is quite funny. Of course Alonso was frustrated, but the position was granted him in the end and this is just fun.
Simon Smith: Alonso was angry at the situation, not Hamilton. He knows he’d do exactly the same if the roles were reversed. He was just very frustrated at how hard it was to get by someone who was so much slower.
Is time running out for Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull?
ImsterF1: Final season for Yuki. He even said he was suprised he was re-signed a few years back. Reserve driver role awaits at Aston
R Y: The car isn’t the donkey people make it out to be. Its capable of wins, podiums and poles but only Verstappen can extract that performance out of it.
George Bascomb: I had hopes for Tsunoda in his first season, but he has never proven to be a driver worthy of the RBR seat. If not for Honda, he would still be driving at Racing Bulls. He’s had his shot, time to give him the boot and invest in more promising talent.
Read next: Year’s grace for Tsunoda? Red Bull urged not to ‘kill’ Hadjar alongside Verstappen