Photo: RacePictures.

McLaren's papaya rules prompt potential Piastri-Norris Abu Dhabi regret

18:14, 15 Oct

Updated: 20:27, 15 Oct

byNorberto Mujica

Juan Pablo Montoya has urged McLaren to loosen its hold over its drivers and let Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fight freely for the championship, saying Formula 1 is, in the end, about racing, not restraint.

You don’t want to go home at the end of the race in Abu Dhabi thinking, ‘Man, I was too nice. I was going to pass this guy, and I didn’t because I didn’t want to piss anyone off.’

- Juan Pablo Montoya

Speaking about McLaren’s approach to managing its two drivers, Montoya praised team principal Andrea Stella for holding the operation together but warned that trying to exercise excessive control could end up taking a large toll on the team, including Piastri and Norris.

Montoya said: “For McLaren today, the team is above the driver.

“They need to let them compete against each other. You still need to be a unified team, and you still need to have the ultimate goal, that is to win as a team. That is really important. I think Stella does an amazing job keeping the whole thing together.”

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

Lando Norris collided with Oscar Piastri at the start of the Singapore GP. Photo: RacePictures.

Montoya argues that the team harmony vs competition balance is currently lobsided in the papaya team.

He added: “In the races, they need to let them be more flexible. For the individual drivers, they know that this might be it; this might be the only chance in their careers of being a World Champion.

"You don’t want to go home at the end of the race in Abu Dhabi thinking, ‘Man, I was too nice. I was going to pass this guy, and I didn’t because I didn’t want to piss anyone off.’ That’s not F1, you’ve got to go for it.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in Monza. Photo: RacePictures

Ultimately, the Colombian former F1 driver put forward a way for the McLaren fold to preserve the integrity of their values, whilst allowing for more wheel-to-wheel racing flexibility.

He continued: “The best way for them is to reinforce the need for the drivers to respect each other from now to the end of the year.”

“Remember that you’re still going to be working together next year. So go at it, have fun but be respectful. Race hard but race with respect,” Montoya concluded.

Montoya hypothesised Red Bull could be behind Piastri rumours

The former McLaren driver also believes it's very easy to imagine that "Somebody at Red Bull could be going, ‘This would be a great leak, just to stir up the pot and destabilise McLaren." Read his full statements here.

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