Former McLaren and Alpine design engineer Mark Lane says Lando Norris has thrown his \u201ctoys\u201d out of the pram as his F1 2025 battle with teammate Oscar Piastri intensifies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It comes after Norris declared that \u201cthere are no papaya rules\u201d anymore after McLaren imposed team orders on its drivers at last weekend\u2019s Italian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Former McLaren man reacts to Lando Norris\u2019s papaya rules claim<\/p>\n
McLaren missed out on victory for the first time since June\u2019s Canadian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen, the reigning four-time World Champion, collected his third win of the F1 2025 season for Red Bull.<\/p>\n
Norris and Piastri were forced to settle for second and third respectively in a race defined by a late team orders drama at McLaren<\/a>.<\/p>\n McLaren parted from standard procedure by pitting Piastri first despite the Australian trailing his teammate on track at the time.<\/p>\n Norris pitted a lap later, but a slow stop saw him fall behind Piastri when he rejoined the track.<\/p>\n McLaren instructed Piastri to return second place to Norris, with the cars swapping positions on the pit straight in the closing laps.<\/p>\n The result means Norris has reduced Piastri\u2019s lead in the standings to 31 points with eight races remaining.<\/p>\n Analysis: Italian Grand Prix<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0Italian GP conclusions: McLaren team orders, Norris and Piastri puppets, Verstappen\u2019s little victories<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0The eye-opening data behind Max Verstappen\u2019s dominant Italian GP win<\/a><\/p>\n McLaren famously deployed its \u2018papaya rules\u2019 \u2013 effectively a code of conduct between Norris and Piastri<\/a> in wheel-to-wheel scenarios \u2013 in the closing months of the 2024 season.<\/p>\n In an update after the Italian Grand Prix, however, Norris claimed that the papaya rules never existed<\/a>.<\/p>\n He told DAZN:\u00a0\u201cThere are no papaya rules anymore. We\u2019ve never had them.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if that document exists under a different name, he replied: \u201cYes. It\u2019s not even a page long, actually.<\/p>\n \u201cThe important thing is it says: Fair.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd this covers many things, fairness for me and for Oscar.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t choose that these things happen. We don\u2019t care what\u2019s happened in the past, but we do what we think is right for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to a PlanetF1.com post on social media \u2013 seen by more than 1.4 million users at the time of writing \u2013 Lane claimed that Norris\u2019s comments revealed a frustration with the situation at McLaren.<\/p>\n And he welcomed McLaren\u2019s decision to swap Piastri and Norris in the closing laps at Monza, arguing that it has injected a \u201clittle spice\u201d into the F1 2025 title battle.<\/p>\n Lane said: \u201cToys and pram are the words that spring to mind.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to criticise this team action because it has helped generate the (inevitable) little spice required going forward.<\/p>\n \u201cThe temperature can only ratchet up now and I look forward to the next episode.\u201d<\/p>\n More on McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Oscar Piastri news<\/a><\/p>\n