Zak Brown reveals what he’ll tell Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on McLaren’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ‘rules’

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row for McLaren at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Norris secured his eighth pole position of the season – equalling Max Verstappen’s total for the season – while Piastri lines up second ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

McLaren have been on the pace all weekend and will be looking to take full advantage and end the season on a high after Norris missed out on the Drivers’ Championship to Verstappen.

Many will look at this season as a missed opportunity for McLaren to end Verstappen’s dominance in F1 given that they have had the better package than Red Bull for much of the season.

A major talking point in McLaren’s season has been their ‘papaya rules’, which effectively meant that Piastri would be less aggressive in his approach when racing Norris and would help his teammate in his title bid.

As the team find themselves in the fight for the Constructors’ Championship, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has revealed what he will say to his drivers before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Zak Brown says Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri know what the plan is ahead of Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

McLaren are in the best possible position to wrap up their first constructors’ title since 1998 in Abu Dhabi.

The Woking-based outfit lead Ferrari by 21 points and look almost certain to secure the title with a front row lockout for tomorrow’s race.

Norris and Piastri have come quite close to disaster a couple times this season, most notably in Monza when Piastri overtook Norris for the lead at turn four, which allowed Charles Leclerc to pass the former and deny a one-two finish.

The incident was the reason ‘papaya rules’ were introduced to implement a more relaxed and organised way of how McLaren’s drivers go about racing. Brown says McLaren keep score of when Norris and Piastri help each other to keep balance within the team.

And ahead of the race in Abu Dhabi, Brown outlined that the duo ‘know what the plan is’ as they look to wrap up the constructors’ title.

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Speaking with Nico Rosberg about the possible rules he will introduce, Brown said via Sky Sports F1 (07/12, 3:24) : “Yeah, we’ll come up with some rules overnight.

“But no, the drivers obviously know exactly what’s going on, so I don’t think we’ll need to tell them everything. I think they know what the plan is.

“I’ll say that [I] spoke to Nico about it and thought, just in case it wasn’t obvious, you guys should be nice to each other!”

What are Ferrari’s chances of winning the Constructors’ Championship?

Ferrari are on a losing streak of their own for constructors’ titles – having not won since 2008. And it does not seem likely that they will end that winless run this season.

It was already going to be a difficult task to overscore McLaren by 21 points heading into Abu Dhabi, but Charles Leclerc’s 10-place grid penalty for the race has made Ferrari’s task all the more difficult.

The Monegasque driver was forced to change his battery after FP1 and will start the race from the very back of the grid after being knocked out in Q2 in qualifying.

Teammate Sainz lines up third behind the McLarens and will be looking to put Norris and Piastri under pressure to keep Ferrari’s title hopes alive. But unless the front two take each other out, it looks certain that the constructors’ title will be heading to Woking after 26 years.