McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will line up beside one another at the front of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid. As the team fights to secure the F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship, are we set to see a return of ‘papaya rules’? 

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella both agree: They’ll talk with the drivers before the race, but they believe both Norris and Piastri are well acquainted with the rules of engagement now.

Will McLaren reinstate papaya rules in Abu Dhabi GP?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

McLaren seemed somewhat surprised by its pace during the F1 2024 season, with driver Lando Norris admitting that the team didn’t expect to be competing for a title until F1 2025.

All it took was one upgrade package for Miami, though, and the tides turned for the Woking-based team.

But that raised an unexpected concern: How should McLaren handle its drivers? Should one driver receive preferential treatment? Should the team itself remain the primary focus? Or should McLaren throw all caution to the wind and see what happens?

McLaren opted to implement a few basic guidelines that it called ‘papaya rules,’ and according to Zak Brown, the code of conduct is simple: Remember he’s your teammate. Race him hard. Race him clean. Don’t touch.

Of course, those guidelines haven’t exactly encompassed instances of team orders, where one McLaren driver was suggested to move aside for another. But now, with the World Drivers’ Championship sorted, those rules may be much less strict.

But according to both Zak Brown and Andrea Stella, there sill still be some rules of engagement in Abu Dhabi.

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Speaking after qualifying in Abu Dhabi, Andrea Stella told media including PlanetF1.com that he understands drivers are hardwired to win races from their first days in karting — but that he doesn’t foresee any issues with Norris nor Piastri.

“They always think like that,” he said of the race-winning mindset. “Then at some stage in their career, you tell them, oh no, here is not about you guys winning. Here is about the team winning.”

The team-first mindset, though, has already been a hot topic of multiple conversations in the McLaren camp this year. Stella acknowledged that the team and its drivers “cannot face something just staying totally united” because both drivers want to win.

“But any time we had this conversation,” Stella said. ‘I was always very positively surprised by how easy it was to get the point across, like, first interest is the team.

“This will be the same conversation tomorrow.”

Per the McLaren team boss, both drivers will understand how to conduct themselves at the launch, the first corner, and the first lap. Still, Stella shies away from being too “prescriptive, because drivers may actually feel the safest by following the instinct.

“But what’s important is that you program the instinct with a clear objective, and the objective tomorrow is to bring the championship home.”

Per Stella, both Norris and Piastri are able to understand that, at this point in their career, simply being able to help McLaren secure a WCC is hugely important and says a lot about the reliability of both drivers.

“So let’s do this step,” Stella said of winning the WCC, “and then we will think about the other championship for which we need to provide our drivers a faster car.”

Despite a few cracks about not being able to sleep tonight, Zak Brown still admitted that things are looking good for tomorrow. The team intends to be “laser focused” on race day after spending the weekend getting “on top of the car” in order to find the ideal balance and race pace.

“We’ll come with some rules overnight, but drivers obviously know exactly what’s going on, so I don’t think we’ll need to tell them anything,” Brown told Sky F1.

“I think they know what the reminder is.”

“With safety cars and things of that nature, I don’t think we can rule anybody out,” Brown said when asked of his predictions. “I think that would be naive.

“So we’re going to just attack tomorrow like we’ve been attacking every weekend, and [the WCC] would mean everything to all the men and women at McLaren that have done such an unbelievable job.

“So hats off to all of them, and hopefully we’ll be celebrating tomorrow night.”

Should McLaren take the title tomorrow, it’ll be the marque’s first in 26 years. Brown was asked what part he’s most looking forward to: the money, the prestige?

“What’s most important to us is we want the trophy,” he responded

“We can replace the money, all that stuff. Of course, it’s important to the team, and yes, bonuses, and things of that nature.

“But we want this trophy for our trophy cabinet, and that’s worth more than anything to us, and I hope we’re able to bring it home tomorrow night.”

There’s still a full race to go in the F1 2024 season, but when the checkered flag flies, we’ll know just who will remain standing as the World Constructors’ Champions.

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