Ex-Williams Boss defends 'papaya rules'

18:30, 18 Nov

byDrew Murphy

Former Williams team principal Claire Williams has defended McLaren’s approach to managing Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

McLaren gave the hotly debated decision not to back one driver over the other in the Drivers’ championship, allowing Norris and Piastri to battle it out on track, with the condition that they do not crash into each other.

Also known as ‘papaya rules’, this decision from McLaren has led to a couple of incidents, such as the Singapore and Canadian Grand Prix, where the two drivers made contact.

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Williams was speaking to talkSPORT, where she defended the Woking outfit, claiming they will have the best intentions for both drivers.

She said: “It’s not an easy piece of work. I think that at McLaren, in Lando and Oscar, they’ve got two quite relaxed drivers. But equally, they’re both competitive.

"They both have fought to get to where they are in Formula 1 today.

Photo: Race Pictures

“Both of their dreams for many, many years will have always been to win a drivers’ championship, and they will take that fight to each other on the race track.

“But trying to manage that isn’t an easy piece of work.

“You’re going to have best-laid plans going into every grand prix. You’re going to have the conversations with your drivers to keep it clean, keep it on the race track.

"But, you know, racing is a bit of a crazy business. You don’t know what’s going to happen when the lights go out.

“It’s not easy to manage, and we can all look on a Monday and go ‘why did they make that decision, why did they do that?’

McLaren celebrates winning the constructors' in Singapore - Photo: Race Pictures

"But all I can say is McLaren on the pitwall will always have the best intentions and try to do the best thing for their drivers on a Sunday afternoon."

After Piastri’s drop in form and Norris’ resurgence, the Briton leads his teammate by 24 points heading into the final three rounds.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen is still in the fight, as he is only 25 points behind second-place Piastri.

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