Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri - Photo: Race Pictures

'McLaren could scrap ‘papaya rules’ consequences after Norris–Piastri clash'

20:01, 07 Oct

Updated: 21:17, 07 Oct

byOlly Darcy

F1 pundit Ted Kravtiz believes that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's Turn 1 incident at the Singapore Grand Prix will see McLaren "abandon the consequences that happen" surrounding 'papaya rules'.

"That would have seemed like unnecessary manipulation in a Grand Prix, for me."

- Ted Kravtiz on the Norris and Piastri incident in Singapore

At the Marina Bay Circuit, Norris collided with teammate Piastri going into the first section of corners, barging his way through to get past the Australian. The Brit finished ahead in P3, while Piastri did so in fourth.

That result for Norris sealed McLaren's second constructors' championship in as many seasons, but plenty of talk after the race stemmed from the Lap 1 incident.

"This is the incident that is going to tip McLaren into abandoning, not the 'papaya rules' which says, 'Don't crash into each other', but the consequences that happen after that," Kravitz stated on Sky Sports' podcast, 'The F1 Show'.

norris-piastri-collision-mclaren-singapore-gp-f1

Lando Norris collided with Oscar Piastri at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix - Photo: RacePictures.

"They are just going to have to leave that alone, because Oscar could just about live with Hungary and Lando's one-stop strategy, or Monza and Lando's bad pit stop. Now it has got to the point where he just can't accept it anymore.

"It seems that Lando, on the face of it, from what we are inferring from what has been said, broke the 'papaya rules', which is that you don't hit each other. It seems, from what Oscar is saying, that if the agreement is broken, it will be remedied by the team on track. That did not happen.

"This is the problem with the 'papaya rules'. It wasn't the most egregious knock. If they had ordered Oscar past Lando, I would not have liked that. That would have seemed like unnecessary manipulation in a Grand Prix."

'Now is when the pressure mounts'

After crashing out at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last time out, the weekend in Singapore saw Piastri's lead in the championship cut once again by Norris, something Jamie Chadwick alluded to as the season enters its final chapter.

"If there were two non-McLaren cars against each other, I don't think anyone would think anything beyond it. What Oscar is trying to play on is this 'papaya rules'.

"We don't know the extent of the details within it, but he has given Lando a position back earlier in the year for something within those rules, so he is probably trying to understand where him being pushed off by Lando falls into that."

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris celebrating their 2025 constructors' championship win in Singapore - Photo: Race Pictures

Kravitz also had his say on understanding McLaren's papaya rules: "If Oscar had been promised that being let back through was the deal, then he has a right to feel agreeved about the whole thing. That is the problem."

Chadwick then continued by saying, "[Piastri] will look back on it and go, and Lando put it this way himself, saying, 'I would have gone for it myself'. It was a bit clumsy, but out of everything that happened in that melee of Turn 1, it could have been a lot worse for Oscar.

"In the back of his mind, Oscar will hate that he has lost points to Lando this weekend. He out-qualified him. He was a race win ahead. Now he has lost the race-win points deficit. Now is when the pressure mounts."

With six Grands Prix and three Sprints to go in 2025, Piastri leads Norris by 22 points in the standings. In third place is Max Verstappen, 63 points behind the Australian.

GPblog's latest F1 Paddock Update

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog's F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.