P1racenews AI automatic summary:
“It sounds very soft and it was like two kids being published in the corner of your room.”
The 1997 F1 world champion, Jacques Villeneuve, has criticized McLaren for their management of the team’s two drivers in the title race. With only 14 points separating Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the 2025 F1 drivers’ championship with five rounds remaining, McLaren’s “Papaya Rules” have come under scrutiny. Starting with Monza, where Piastri was instructed to let Norris pass after a slow pit stop, tensions have risen. Despite Piastri’s complaints about Norris’s aggressive overtake in Singapore, McLaren initially refrained from intervening. While initially indicating that Norris would face repercussions, those consequences were later revoked due to Piastri’s involvement in a crash that eliminated both McLaren drivers from the sprint race. Villeneuve’s opinion is that McLaren’s soft approach with the “Papaya Rules” is not suitable for a championship fight, as evidenced by Norris’s different performances when battling Verstappen compared to Piastri.
