With the Drivers’ Championship lost, and it is “most
certainly” over, Bernie Collins is keen to see Oscar Piastri stamp his
authority at McLaren to avoid a wingman role in F1 2025.
Piastri found
himself on the wrong end of McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ this season, the
Australian driver asked to play the number two role to Lando Norris if
necessary.
‘Oscar Piastri can now say, ‘I don’t want to be number
two driver’
The McLaren team-mates started the season on equal
footing before Lando Norris moved into second place in the Drivers’ standings
at the Spanish Grand Prix when he overhauled Charles Leclerc. As McLaren’s
MCL38 emerged as the car to beat, Norris did so as Verstappen’s nearest
challenger both in the standings and on the track.
It had pundits questioning McLaren’s team decision when
Norris was ordered to move over for Piastri at the Hungarian Grand Prix to
re-establish their running order prior to a pit stop call that gave Norris the
undercut.
Seven points were lost that day with Norris dropping a
further three, if not more, at the Italian Grand Prix when Piastri overtook him
on the opening lap in a move that allowed Charles Leclerc to also get the jump
on the Briton.
That was the moment that McLaren drew the line, insisting
from then on that Norris would be the preferred driver as, 44 points up on
Piastri, he had the better chance of reeling in Verstappen. ‘Papaya rules’ were
in play.
But it wasn’t until Brazil that they actually had an
impact as Norris was well behind Piastri in Baku with the Aussie then trailing
in the next three races. In Brazil though Piastri was on pole position for the
Sprint, Norris P2 and with two laps to go McLaren ordered Piastri to give the
win to his team-mate.
24 hours later it made no difference as Norris went from
first to sixth in the Grand Prix while Verstappen raced from 17th to first
to extend his lead to 62
points. With only 86 in play, it is, as Collins put it, “most certainly”
over for the Briton.
The former Aston Martin strategist is now keen to see how
Piastri reacts to that in the final three races of the championship.
“The interesting question is, the next three races,” she
said on the Sky F1 podcast, “if we’re saying the Drivers’
Championship is done – it’s not mathematically but I understand it’s most
certainly there – Piastri now has a chance to say, ‘I don’t want to be number
two driver at race one next year’.
“So there’ll be no more of this give up your position in
the Sprint race, give up your position in the main race. So I’m quite excited
to see how that progresses in the next three.”
Has F1 2024 seen the end of McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’?
