I was not at the Singapore Grand Prix this past weekend, nor was I covering it. Instead, I was at Hockenheim for a race weekend out of the Formula 1 glare, along with 102,000 race fans braving wind, rain and cold at the legendary former Grand Prix venue.
Singapore and McLaren were not on my mind. I was there as a guest of young Emirati Mercedes junior driver Rashid Al Daheri and his father, Ali, to witness him racing in the FRECA series. Coincidentally, also caught up with my long-time racing mate, Iain Pepper and watched his son, Jordan Pepper, fight for the 2025 DTM title on the final race weekend of the series.
It was amazing, that’s all I can say. However, this is not about DTM or FRECA; this is about Formula 1!
Being at Hockenheim, I got glimpses of what was going on at Marina Bay, but I only watched the race in full when I got back to Berlin on Sunday evening. And then the highlights and interviews on Monday, just to be sure!
Wow! What a GP weekend it was. I knew ahead of time what was brewing. Our GRANDPRIX247 Editorial WhatsApp group exploded with discussion and debate regarding the McLaren saga unfolding in real-time between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The fallout from Singapore appears to expose McLaren’s so-called Papaya Rules for what they are, a misguided attempt at driver rules of engagement that has only made a mess of what should be a fair, thrilling fight between two of Formula 1’s best young talents.
It’s not just the fans feeling uneasy about it as social media suggests. Inside the paddock and beyond, those who’ve lived and breathed McLaren see a rot setting in that raises uncomfortable ethical questions about our sport.
Zak needs to take himself out of the cesspit of PC cr@p
Mark Kay, who worked at McLaren during some of its most iconic years, summed up what many old-school racers are thinking: “The whole premise of the Papaya Rules shit is insulting to F1’s heritage. Excuse my language, but for f@ck’s sake, we’re now in an era where it’s all so sanitised and scrutinised that we really need to debate whether what Norris did was anything but racing?
“Don’t get me wrong, Piastri felt aggrieved, and that’s understandable. Not because what Norris did in isolation was wrong, but because in the context of this woke, wishy-washy joke of a ‘terms of engagement’ Brown and Stella came up with, well, they dug their own hole.”
Kay blames McLaren leadership for over-engineering something that never needed fixing. “Too many precedents of change position because of this, that, or something else. McLaren have only themselves to blame.
"Zak needs to take himself out of the cesspit of PC cr@p England has become and be CEO from back in the States, where woke is dying a slow death. Papaya Rules is insulting to Senna, Prost, Häkkinen, Ron... Just let them race. The best man wins," Kay concluded.
McLaren on the verge of bringing the sport into disrepute for match-fixing
Damien Reid, a veteran motorsport journalist and long-time Formula 1 commentator, echoed the frustration, not just with the Norris-Piastri clash but the environment that allowed it to become an internal drama in the first place.
"Turn 1 was a racing incident, and for any other drivers or any other teams, it’s play on. But McLaren have created a rod for their own back and brought this on themselves," said Reid.
He believes both Norris and Piastri have been boxed into a structure that forces them to tattle rather than race: “I don’t think Oscar would have asked them to look into it if they were in a normal team, same as when he asked for positions to be reversed in Silverstone. It would never have been asked. And I’m not sure Lando would have asked for Oscar to swap either.
“McLaren have created this environment that effectively forces the drivers to dob on each other rather than help each other. So what if they bang wheels? I love it. But when one driver gets penalised for a pit lane incident that didn’t even involve his car, it’s made a mockery of the team and the sport.
"I stand by my claim that McLaren is on the verge of bringing the sport into disrepute for match-fixing the results of their drivers and potentially the WDC. Let them race, and whoever finishes with four wheels still on their car at the line wins! Forget Papaya Rules, it should be NASCAR Rules," declared Reid.
What is McLaren doing?
Kevin Melro brought a neutral check to the debate, reminding everyone how absurd the situation has become with modern Formula 1 bureaucracy: “We’re nearing a point where all drivers start the race black flagged, and the teams must produce evidence to relinquish the black flag by the end of the race.”
Melro added, “For a bias check, I agree with Mark entirely. But Paul is a lifetime Macca supporter, so I want to hear it from his perspective. What is McLaren doing, and is this something worth supporting?”
Cue my take on the matter...
As a McLaren man, I understand the pain of civil war within a team. There in the garage during some of the Senna-Prost rivalry. Lived through the days when Ron Dennis ran the tightest ship in the paddock and still let his drivers fight like lions. Also witnessed the Alonso-Hamilton year of destruction. It was raw war.
Yes, Norris and Piastri are phenomenal drivers, but McLaren’s self-imposed Papaya Rules have dulled what could have been a Prost-Senna-style rivalry, one fought by great drivers with an unrelenting will to win. Terms and conditions never worked.
Zak and Andrea have made McLaren Great Again
Make no mistake, I will be very, very happy if Norris or Piastri win the title. No preference. However, my real admiration is more for Zak Brown and Andrea Stella. From the rock bottom of the second Fernando Alonso era at Woking, they made my McLaren team great again.
It’s been a while since we dominated in this manner, 1991 to be precise, and I was there. Everyone wanted to drive for us. Ditto 35 years later! It's soooo sweet.
With McLaren wrapping up a second F1 Constructors title in a row, this one with six GPs to go, let me throw a spanner in the works: I hope Max Verstappen beats both our drivers and writes another unthinkable chapter to his incredible story.
Go figure that one out! Simply put, I love Max more than I love McLaren, ditto Senna, ditto Hamilton etc etc. I’m a driver dude, not a car dude. Why? You can make fast cars, but you can't make fast drivers; they are born that way.
To answer Kevin's question of where I stand on the McLaren-Piastri-Norris saga? It feels corporate. It feels manipulated. It's not Formula 1, it's not sport in my opinion.
BUT (a big but) by no means is this the first time a Formula 1 team has fiddled around with team orders to impact race outcomes and even world titles. Mercedes-Hamilton. Ferrari-Alonso. Ferrari-Schumacher. Benetton-Schumacher. Vettel-Red Bull, etcetera, spring to mind.
They all do it and they will all continue to do it, so I'd rather it be McLaren doing the fiddling than our rivals. It's a good problem to have, which of our drivers we will 'allow' to be World Champ... And long may it continue.
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