AUSTIN, Texas — First, there were “Papaya Rules.”
Now, the phrase from McLaren that has the rest of the Formula 1 paddock scratching their head has been boiled down to a single word.
As the F1 grid arrived in Austin for the United States Grand Prix, with McLaren carrying a rather large trophy along for the ride for the second season in a row, many wondered if there would be any additional fallout from the opening-lap incident between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the Singapore Grand Prix. While McLaren clinched their second consecutive Constructors’ Championship thanks to the results in that race, contact between the teammates — and initiated by Norris — lingered over their team victory.
Yesterday, both Norris and Piastri met with the media during their respective Media Day duties, and that is when the world learned of the “repercussions” that Norris will now face as a result of the incident.
What those repercussions are, however, is anyone’s guess.
“Yeah, of course, there were talks. That was inevitable,” began Norris during his session in McLaren’s hospitality space. “The team held me accountable for what happened, which I think is fair. And then we made progress from there on, understanding what the repercussions were for myself to avoid something, definitely avoid anything worse happening than what did.”
Norris was then asked if those repercussions meant that he might have to change how he races over the final six weekends of the season, and the title contender denied that it was the case.
“Well, I think that the simple answer is there was contact between the two cars, and that’s something that we want, we always want to avoid,” began Norris.
”The rule is to not crash with each other.
”This wasn’t a crash. It was something much, much smaller, but we still don’t even want to get it to that point because it causes these kinds of things, and that’s never a good thing.
”So we want to avoid anything like we had in Singapore, but I think in the end, the understanding is that it’s racing and it’s difficult to always be perfect.
”I didn’t want what happened to happen.
“But I’m never going to let go of an opportunity,” continued Norris. “There was a gap, and I went for it and what happened happened, but nothing, let’s say, changes from how we go racing.
”It’s just, we and the team want to avoid those kinds of things happening, happening again, and, simply for the reason there was contact between two McLarens and us, and, yeah, Zak [Brown] and Andrea [Stella] don’t want that to happen, and I think as teammates we don’t want that to happen.
“So, of course, that’s the reason why I was held accountable.”
For his part, Piastri noted that talks after the race were “productive” and that Norris has taken “responsibility” for the incident.
“The talks from Singapore were very productive with everyone involved,” he said. “The conclusion was what happened in Singapore is not how we want to go racing as a team and ultimately Lando has taken responsibility for that.
“So that’s in the past now and the rules won’t change because of that. I think ultimately we’ve got that framework in place for a reason and there’s no reason for that to change now, so it’s been dealt with and now looking forward to the future.”
In the aftermath of that incident in Singapore, when McLaren declined to issue an order to have the drivers swap places, there was speculation on social media and elsewhere that it was evidence that the team favored Norris over Piastri, particularly when contrasted with the Italian Grand Prix. At that race, a team order was issued to have Piastri swap places with Norris behind him, after his teammate sat through a slow pit stop.
Piastri brushed those notions aside when speaking on Thursday.
”I’m very happy with that, I think for me.
“Again, we analyzed the incident, and you know there has been responsibility placed on Lando ultimately in that collision, but I’m very happy that there’s no favoritism or bias,” described Piastri.
Piastri was also asked if, given Max Verstappen’s looming presence in the Drivers’ Championship race, it was time for McLaren to perhaps play favorites and back Piastri’s title pursuit.
The Australian driver dismissed that idea.
“I don’t think so, no. I think every driver wants a fair chance to try and win a championship,” said Piastri. “I think for me it’s more than fair to let us both keep fighting for that. So no, I don’t think that’s the approach we should take.”
F1 fans thought that McLaren securing the Constructors’ Championship would put the notion of Papaya Rules to bed, allowing Piastri and Norris to race hard, but fair, for a title down the stretch.
They might have been half-right.
Now we have the matter of repercussions, and what those will actually mean once the racing begins in earnest later this weekend. Was Norris given a sort of warning, akin to a yellow card in soccer, that another incident would see on-track consequences? Something even more? Something less? A sporting repercussion that gives Piastri preferred strategy calls, a financial repercussion?
Time will tell. But now, yet again, we are left with more questions than answers.
