Lando Norris dismisses 'papaya rules' claim after McLaren Qatar blunder

Lando Norris has firmly rejected the idea that McLaren's strategy failure in the Qatar Grand Prix was down to its so-called papaya rules.

On Lap 7 behind the safety car on Lusail, McLaren failed to pit either leader Oscar Piastri or Norris from third, meaning both were placed at a major disadvantage compared to third title rival Max Verstappen, who did pit.

With the race being run under 25-lap maximum stint lengths for tyres, Verstappen was therefore able to pit again on Lap 32 for his second stop - having only completed one at full racing speed compared to Piastri and Norris who were forced to do both in green flag conditions.

This meant the pair would have had to pass Verstappen on-track, with Piastri only closing to 7.9s behind at the flag with Norris labouring to fourth. 

It means Norris heads to Abu Dhabi on 408 points to Verstappen's 396 and Piastri's 392 - the first title decider since 2010 to feature more than two drivers.

McLaren boss Zak Brown has previously stated that he would rather lose the title to Verstappen than favour either Norris or Piastri, with this 'fairness' part of the so-called papaya rules the team races under.

But Norris has firmly rejected the idea that it had anything to do with not pitting both drivers. 

When asked if McLaren's decision not to pit was to ensure it was playing fair to both drivers under its so-called 'Papaya Rules', Norris scoffed at the idea.

"Nope, it's got nothing to do with it. Everyone keeps thinking that, but it has got nothing to do with it," he firmly responded to Sky Sports F1. 

"We just have to have faith in the team making the right decision, and it is always a gamble.

"I feel like we were the ones who took the gamble in a way, but it was the wrong decision, we shouldn't have done it, we lost Oscar the win, and I lost P2.

"We didn't do a good job, but we've done good jobs in other races, that's why we won the constructors' six races ago. It wasn't our finest day, but that is life.

"[Red Bull] were just as quick as they were [on Saturday], it is just they did a better job as a team and made the right call. 

"We already know why we didn't make the right decision; you can't get them all right, so they do their job, and I'll do mine."

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