McLaren to review ‘papaya rules’ after Norris-Piastri clash

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has committed to holding a review of the so-called 'papaya rules' after the Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri Italian GP incident. 

From the front-row of the grid, Norris held onto the lead out of Turn 2 at Monza, but Piastri drove around the outside of his team-mate at Turn 4, causing Norris to fall behind Charles Leclerc to run third. 

Pre-race, and given the need for Norris to continue to eat into Max Verstappen's championship lead, so-called 'papaya rules' were introduced between the two team-mates - which Norris described as being told "not to crash into each other."

The duo would ultimately finish second and third, with Piastri ahead of Norris as the one-stopping Leclerc took an emotional victory for Leclerc ahead of the two-stopping McLarens.

It means Norris now has a 62-point deficit to Max Verstappen in the drivers' with 232 points up for grabs across the final eight rounds of the season.

Reflecting on the race, Stella committed to an internal review of 'papaya rules.'

"We will have to review with the drivers to understand their point of view and then we will assess together whether they were fully compliant or not," Stella told media including RacingNews365. 

"We will take the learnings that we need to take and then we will adjust the papaya rules as such that they allow us to pursue in the best possible manner, both the constructors' and drivers' championships. 

"Because we have to be in the position now to acknowledge that not only the constructors' championship is possible, but from a drivers' point of view, that with the performance we have in the car and the struggles we see with Red Bull, that it is definitely possible.

"If we can achieve both as a team, then we need to the team and Lando into condition to pursue both championships."

Norris-Piastri swap

When pushed by RacingNews365 if he had considered swapping Piastri and Norris in the closing stages to give Norris an extra three championship points, Stella said no. 

"We did not consider that," he said.

"We considered other ways during the race to make that Lando had his own opportunities, but we didn't consider the swap because we were trying to put as much pressure as possible on Leclerc to eventually induce him to have a problem with the front-left, like a lock-up into one of the chicanes."