“Fu*k off, man!!” Ex-Dutch driver BLASTS McLaren for deploying the infamous papaya rules in 2024 title chase
McLaren botched the 2024 drivers' world championship after deploying the papaya rules between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
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Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris (via IMAGO)
The McLaren Formula 1 team became a bit of a laughingstock in the 2024 F1 season. They had the opportunity to dethrone Max Verstappen, but because of their infamous papaya rules, they missed out on the opportunity.
Lando Norris gave Max Verstappen a fierce fight but failed to get better of the latter in the overall picture. While there were quite a few reasons behind this, one of the most prominent ones was the papaya rules deployed by McLaren between Oscar Piastri and Norris.
In light of this, the former Dutch driver Tom Coronel, blasted the Woking-based F1 team.
Papaya rules, fu** off, man!!
Tom Coronel via Viaplay
The Ex-F1 driver Christijan Albers also agreed with Coronel while having a conversation.
Well, if anything irritated me, it was those papaya rules. Then when you come up with a marketing quote like that, get your sh** together. Then get your sh** together!
Christijan Albers via Viaplay
Norris missed out on the drivers’ world championship by 63 points. Moreover, Verstappen amassed the title during the extremely cold Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend.
McLaren had the fastest car from Miami GP onwards
While Coronel and Albers have bashed the McLaren outfit for botching the 2024 driver’s title chase, the latter has also talked about one other aspect. Albers feels Norris and Co.’s campaign kicked into gear from Miami onwards.
Yes, from Miami, you really see that tipping point. McLaren had found it then. From that moment, it was clear to me that McLaren had made that step and had the best car.
Christijan Albers via the same conversation
The Andrea Stella-led outfit secured the constructors’ championship for the first time since 1998 in the recently concluded campaign. Norris missed out on the drivers’ but the optimism in there within the papaya outfit going into 2025.
Norris and Piastri performed admirably in the 2024 season and proved to one and all that they are world championship-caliber drivers. However, this is where things could get quite dicey between the two of them.
Both drivers will have a fresh start next year and will aim for the title. This will put Stella and Co. in a tricky spot as they might get forced into deploying the controversial papaya rules. The spotlight will be on McLaren in the 2025 F1 season for a plethora of reasons.
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Rishabh Negi
(3234 Articles Published)