McLaren are on a mission to secure a consecutive constructors championship during the 2025 season, whilst being widely contested to convert the double, with drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the helm.
With no enforcement of team orders, what does this mean for McLaren as the battle for the drivers championship intensifies, and which driver has what it takes to secure their first championship title in Formula One?
McLaren: Let Them Race
During the 2024 Italian GP, a radio message from Lando Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph sparked curiosity, communicating that Norris could race his teammate Oscar Piastri under “Papaya Rules“. This message has since been reiterated several times by the team.
But what are these so-called Papaya Rules , and why are they necessary?
Simply put by McLaren CEO Zac Brown in his respective post-race interview with Sky Sports: “race him hard, race him clean, don’t touch“.
While McLaren also aspire for their drivers to achieve P1 and P2 in their own championship battle, the priority will always be the team, with regard to their focus on obtaining a consecutive constructors championship during the 2025 season.
As reiterated in the same interview by Brown, all constructors need to ask themselves: “are you a one-car team or a two-car team?”.
Doing it the ‘McLaren way’ is widely contested, of course. In the history of Formula One, there have been many instances where teammates have converted their mutual respect to bitter rivalry, as soon as championship status reached contention.
McLaren themselves have proved just how difficult such team orders can be to manage within their own team history, with Aryton Senna and Alain Prost forming a fierce rivalry as teammates throughout their dominant 1988-89 seasons. As tensions grew, both drivers’ crews were even ordered to choose their respective engines blindly, to limit the increasing paranoia embedded by opting to have two number one drivers.
More recently, in the 2016 season, drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg entered their own lovers to rivals arc at Mercedes, with an intensity that translated to an infamous crash on-track at the Spanish GP. In a pre-race segment delivered for the 2025 Spanish GP – almost one decade later – Rosberg himself shared that the atmosphere was “so toxic, that even when something failed on my car, my mechanics would sometimes not tell the other side“.
Though Formula One drivers are egotistical by nature, I think what makes the emerging ‘rivalry’ between Norris and Piastri different, is just how cool, calm, and collected Piastri is in his disposition.
The Australian driver has proven his ability to keep his composure, even when behind Norris in the drivers standings, emulated in the previous 2024 season. He has his eyes on the prize, but ultimately chooses to prioritise focus on his own racing performance, which makes him a huge asset for McLaren.
I personally feel that the concept of ‘rivalry’ would be far less in contention, as far as McLaren and the media are concerned, if Piastri did not have the current edge on Norris, who is notably the more reactive member of the team, both on and off the track.
Papaya Rules seem to be serving the team so far, but will this change moving into the second third of the 2025 season?
Only time will tell, but, for now, I feel the narrative rests with Norris’ ability to contain his emotions on-track, particularly once the constructors championship is decided, and team orders are no longer entirely relevant.
Equally, even if not explicitly shared out-loud, everybody has preferences and favourites – especially with McLaren having set the foundations for Norris’ Formula One career – which will make for an interesting conundrum for McLaren moving forwards, both in the current season, but also in the years to come.
There Can Only Be One Winner
The 2025 season sees Lando Norris’ sixth in his Formula One career, doubling the total amount Oscar Piastri has embarked upon. As is often the case, quality reigns supreme over quantity – this can be seen to be no different, in the narrative of the two McLaren’s drivers.
Lando Norris first emerged on the radar of McLaren in 2017, who eventually went on to sign the then-19-year-old as a rookie for the 2019 season. On his season debut, he scored points eleven times for the team, narrowly missing out on a place in the top 10 of the drivers championship.
In the 2020 season, Norris achieved his first podium and, just one year later, become a dominant force at McLaren, following former teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s disheartening demise. During the 2024 season, he went on to help secure the first constructors championship for McLaren since 1998, simultaneously finishing P2 in the drivers’ standings. To date, Norris has obtained 6 career pole positions.
In comparison, Oscar Piastri joined the team as a rookie for their 2023 season, following a messy exit from the Alpine franchise. The Australian driver finished P4 in the constructors championship in his first season, obtaining his first podium finish at the Japanese GP. In 2024, Piastri gained his first Grand Prix race wins in Formula One, at Hungary and Azerbaijan respectively, contributing to constructors championship victory.
Although it was only in the current 2025 season that Piastri gained his first pole position, he now leads the drivers standings, ahead of Lando Norris, by 10 points. He has 7 pole positions to his name; one more than Norris.
While it must not be forgotten that McLaren themselves were struggling to improve their car for a number of seasons before the introduction of Piastri, it is undoubtable that the Australian’s current Formula One resume is impressive, especially considering how few seasons he has experienced within the top-tier of the sport thus far.
While Norris’ record is impressive, Piastri has shown continual development with each and every season, pragmatic in performance and personality, and constantly looking to his weaknesses for strength, which marks the sign of a true champion.
It is through this maturity that Piastri has been able to adapt and consolidate his ability so strongly in the 2025 season, converting his previous struggles with tyre management to points on track, and enhancing his adaptability, with regard to his versatility in approach towards the racing line undertaken on different circuits.
The pragmatic approach taken in his driving, is further replicated off-track. Despite having a “messy” qualifying session in Monaco, falling just under two tenths short of his teammate, Piastri chose not to dwell on his mistakes when talking to the media, branding his P3 starting position as “quite positive“.
Just one week later at the Spanish GP, the 24-year-old bounced back in high spirits, claiming pole position, translating this into 25 points on Sunday’s race.
Taking mistakes as isolated incidents, and working hard to provide clinical feedback to his team, ensures his performance improves race-by-race.
Conversely, Lando Norris has a tendency to nurse his mistakes, with an array of self-depreciative comments that continue to do the talking on track, with sloppy follow-up performances. This is reinforced by the fact that Norris is yet to win consecutive races in Formula One, despite having experienced six seasons at the top level of the sport.
Choosing to approach the glass half empty, rather than half full, is sadly preventing Lando Norris from being a serious contender in the 2025 title fight, lacking in the consistency and mental agility that makes a world champion.
While he impressed and dominated at McLaren with Daniel Ricciardo by his side in the 2021 season, the lack of maturity demonstrated in his driving mishaps are intensified alongside the polar-opposite personality and driver that is Oscar Piastri.
His disposition in the interview conducted by Sky Sports F1 journalist Rachel Brookes following the Spanish GP also did not sit well with me. His inability to pay respect to the interviewer, looking in all directions and passing jokes about the racing incident between Max Verstappen and George Russell, demonstrated him to be childish and lacking professionalism, further aiding my viewpoint.
Unfortunately for Lando Norris, where he falters, Oscar Piastri shines, and where Norris shines, Piastri does so too.
Outside The Box: Final Thoughts
Entering into the start of the 2025 season, almost nobody foresaw that Piastri would be leading the drivers championship after just three seasons in Formula One. Frequently considered the second driver by fans – largely due to Norris’ growing popularity and outgoing personality – he was undoubtably an underdog, despite his impressive performance on the grid since his debut season in 2023.
Like a silent assasin, I strongly believe the noise surrounding Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the 2024 season enabled Piastri to go virtually undetected, and allowed him the focus required to improve on his own racing. This is shown continually, even now, in the solution-orientated way he chooses to approach each and every Grand Prix, irrespective of the growing pressure on his shoulders. Where many drivers prioritise their ego, Piastri prioritises his brain.
Oscar Piastri’s calm yet aggressive approach fuels his consistency and confidence in the top-tier of the sport, which speaks volumes for his character and performance. This is the attitude of a world champion, and I firmly believe that the Australian has what it takes to clinch the drivers championship this season.
But with only 10 points currently separating him from his teammate in the drivers championship, can Piastri extend his title lead heading into the Canadian GP, or will Norris – or even Verstappen – be able to catch him in his stride?
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