Lando Norris has confirmed that McLaren’s stance on team orders is to be “refreshed” for F1 2025 after he “earned the right” to “privileges” over Oscar Piastri last season.
McLaren’s use of team orders has come under scrutiny in the 2024 F1 campaign, with Norris briefly threatening to forget about the team’s demands to swap positions with Piastri in Hungary.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
The team’s “papaya rules” code emerged as a topic in the second part of the season after McLaren was widely criticised for failing to comply with the team’s orders at the start of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where Piastri overtook Norris to take the lead. from the opening. knees.
That set up a race-long battle between the pair, with the McLaren drivers eventually losing out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said ahead of the upcoming race in Azerbaijan that the team would show a “bias” towards Norris for the rest of the season for the British driver’s career aspirations. opposite name to Max Verstappen.
? The ‘Papaya Rules’ explained: What new phrase is McLaren instructing its drivers?
? Who is Andrea Stella? From Michael Schumacher’s engineer to McLaren team principal
However, things changed in Baku, with Norris Piastri defeating Leclerc in the fight for victory. Piastri then passed Norris the win in the Brazilian GP sprint race before his teammate returned the favour in Qatar.
Norris lost 63 drivers’ championship points as Verstappen claimed his fourth consecutive crown, and McLaren returned from F1 2024 with its first constructor name in 26 years.
Piastri recently revealed that he is aiming to avoid falling into a support role by making a better start to the F1 2025 season, having waited until the eighth race in Monaco for his first podium of last year.
And Norris admitted that Piastri would be allowed to compete for inter-supremacy this season, and that McLaren’s position in the orders would be reset over the winter.
He told the media and added to PlanetF1. com: “[2025] is a review and Oscar also has the opportunity to fight for a championship.
“A lot of what you write and communicate is due to the fight for the championship, the fight for the drivers’ title, and that’s where a lot of the discussions and things started.
“And I have earned some of those privileges.
“I earned the right to have this opportunity by doing a smart job during the season.
“I’m not asking for it. And that’s not how I need to win a championship. I need to pass out and give Max a fair fight, do my part and win my way.
“Sometimes there are inclusions, I mean, Oscar is helping me several times.
“Everyone spoke like it was going to be every race. We went into Baku and it was actually the opposite way around. I did a little bit there and then Oscar helped me win in Brazil.
“Sadly, things turned for the worse on Sunday and the opportunity was gone, but I repaid it [in the Qatar sprint].
“So I think it’s our strength as a team. I don’t think other teams work this way.
“And that partly explains why we are where we are now as a team, why we are the most productive team in Formula 1 and why [we were] fighting for victory in the Manufacturers’ category [in 2024]. “
Norris’s comments come after McLaren chief executive Zak Brown claimed that the British driver will be better equipped to “deal with” Verstappen in F1 2024 after coming off worse in on-track battles with the Red Bull man last season.
He told Speedweek: “I, Lando, learned how to fight from Max.
‘Because Max has been very open about how he drives. If you try to overtake him on the outside, he won’t let you.
“But Lando gave him a great fight in Mexico and also made sure that there was no clash between the two of them. We were fighting for the Constructors‘ title and we couldn’t afford to be too aggressive.
“So Lando did the right thing and I think he knows exactly how to deal with Max on the track.
“I’m sure it will next year. “
Read next: Liam Lawson’s smooth transfer moment in Red Bull F1 dream