McLaren Can Scrap ‘Papaya Rules’ Now

Lando Norris is coming under ever more intense scrutiny in his quest to win the 2024 drivers’ world championship.

On the face of it, the Briton’s recovery from his abysmal P17 qualifying effort in Baku was reasonable, as he finished P4 in the wake of the Sergio Perez-Carlos Sainz crash and even passed Max Verstappen on track.

Verstappen’s championship lead therefore dropped from 62 to 59 points.

“I kept that chance alive today,” McLaren driver Norris said after the Azerbaijan GP. “A lot of people didn’t think we could catch up to Max.”

But despite the ‘papaya rules’ regime now playing out at McLaren, it was Norris’ ever more impressive teammate Oscar Piastri who won on Sunday. The young Australian closed his own points deficit to Norris to just 32 points in Baku.

“The most important thing is that Norris is not maximising again,” former F1 driver Christijan Albers told Viaplay late on Sunday. “That means Max can keep the points losses small.

“Max can count himself lucky that Q1 didn’t go well for Norris,” the Dutchman added. “That kept the damage limited. Piastri won here, but that could have been Norris.”

Albers thinks Verstappen’s best asset at present is that he is “super focused” – in contrast to 24-year-old Norris who admits to struggling with nerves.

“You also have to force good luck,” said the former Minardi driver. “Max is super focused. You don’t see him on the street – he is always busy with his sport.

“Everyone has their own way of preparing, but I think Norris does a lot of activities outside of Formula 1,” added Albers.

Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos warns that Norris cannot take solace in his new and temporary number 1 status at McLaren, given Piastri’s soaring form.

“McLaren don’t have to worry about team orders anymore,” he told Ziggo Sport. “The points difference between Norris and Piastri is now too small for that.”