Zak Brown says No change to “Papaya Rules” at McLaren for 2026 Formula 1 season
F1 NewsWednesday, 11 February 2026 at 08:00
Ahead of the first Formula 1 pre-season test in Bahrain, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has revealed there will be no change to his team's controversial “Papaya Rules” for the new campaign.
Last season, McLaren maintained that drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were free to race one another. There were numerous flashpoints between the pair, especially when it became clear their car was the class of the field—and one of them would be world champion.
But this strategy didn’t always appear fair, with the team adapting to race conditions on the fly. As McLaren dithered, fans were left short-changed. In an effort to maintain parity, the Woking outfit kept their drivers apart, so there wasn’t much of an internal team title battle.
Max Verstappen very nearly punished their hesitation as the season came to a close, finishing within two points of eventual champion Norris. With the scoreboard reset to zero and teams facing the biggest rules reset in the sport’s history, McLaren almost certainly won’t have the same room for error in 2026.
Despite this, Brown was defiant in his pre-Bahrain press conference, doubling down on Papaya Rules' success while emphasizing the benefits of tactical flexibility.
Brown told GrandPrix247: “We actually talked to the drivers, kind of race by race. We do a season review and a season preview; it’s kind of like a racing car.
“We're always developing how we go racing on a race-by-race basis,” he added. “They continue to be free to race again. We will be strategic and intelligent when situations arise, and there won't be much change, because they were free to race last year.”
Were Papaya Rules fair to begin with?
All F1 fans wanted last season was a straight title fight. However, Papaya Rules played a big role in depriving us of the clash we craved.
Whenever Norris and Piastri followed each other on track, they were told “free to race” but also strictly “no contact.” The unwritten code seemed to be ‘okay, race. But stop at the slightest sign of trouble.’
In a wet Australian Grand Prix, for example, a chasing Piastri was told to hold station due to conditions. Later at Monza, the Aussie was (bizarrely) told to let Norris past, despite appearing to gain the place in the pit stops fair and square.
Caveating this move with “free to race” on the radio didn’t change anything. McLaren had manipulated the order to suit its own standard for fairness. Piastri’s title tilt fell apart in Baku, but not before accusations of bias arose. Even the Aussie government got involved at one point, debating whether McLaren had wronged their countryman.
Heading into the new campaign, Brown rejected these claims once again, defending McLaren's strategy of pausing Norris-Piastri battles, just like they did in Melbourne.
Brown explained: "If you look at what was happening in the race, we didn't know if it was going to be wet or if it was going to be dry. You've got Oscar coming up on Lando, we've got a good lead. We don't know if we need to finish on these tyres.
"The track's half-wet, half-dry. They're coming up on traffic. It was hit the pause button. It was not stop. You saw what happened not long after, both our guys went off. So it was very tricky conditions.
"Being free to race doesn't mean that there's not going to be points in a race where you have to assess what's going on. So that was less about the competition, it had nothing to do with the competition, about Lando and Oscar. We didn't want to put both our cars at risk."
Will we see Piastri vs. Norris Round II?
No doubt, Piastri will arrive at the first race in Melbourne with a point to prove. He contended for last year’s title for the vast majority of the season, often outperforming his more experienced teammate. But there’s no guarantee the papaya cars will still be running at the front.
Though McLaren had a solid shakedown in Barcelona, the consensus seems to be that Mercedes are the frontrunners. If the Silver Arrows can survive an apparent attempt to thwart their engine superiority with early rule changes, they’ll be favourites for all the big prizes.
Can Kimi Antonelli take the fight to George Russell this year? It seems like a big ask. Mercedes may not need “Toto Rules” to stop their drivers from scrapping.
Yet, this is exactly what fans will be hoping for. As dawn breaks on a new F1 era, teams may be so far apart that we need teammate battles at the front. Hopefully, whoever ends up in pole position, decides that Papaya Rules 2.0 aren't good for the show.
Those long enough in the tooth will recall how hard Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton fought for the title in 2016. The Brackley team will surely have learned not to risk it all quite as much ten years on.
Yet, this is exactly what fans will be hoping for. As dawn breaks on a new F1 era, teams may be so far apart that we need teammate battles at the front. Hopefully, whoever ends up in pole position, decides that Papaya Rules 2.0 aren't good for the show.
Latest News
Loading
