McLaren F1 News: Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri 'papaya rules' saga sparks X-RATED verdict

Norris, Piastri, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

McLaren 'papaya rules' saga sparks X-RATED F1 verdict

Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley had some strong feelings over team orders

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Sunday 19 January 2025 10:57 Updated: 12:16

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McLaren have sparked an X-rated Formula 1 verdict following their controversial team order decisions throughout the 2024 season.

The papaya outfit stormed to success in the constructors' standings in 2024, earning their first team trophy since 1998, but did so whilst making their fair share of controversial driver decisions on track.

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2024 saw duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri enter into their second year as team-mates, with the team opting to keep their stellar pairing unchanged until at least the end of 2026.

At the start of the season, neither Norris nor Piastri had claimed their maiden grand prix win, but their running total of six wins between them now is what handed the team the constructors' trophy.

Norris claimed his first F1 victory at the 2024 Miami GP and seven races later, Piastri secured his first win in the sport at the Hungarian GP with Norris in second place, but the result was marred by McLaren having spent the last 15 laps of the race begging the Brit to allow his team-mate to overtake him after previously switching positions in a tactical pitstop.

Oscar Piastri's maiden GP win in Hungary was shrouded by team order controversy

McLaren principal Andrea Stella faced constant questioning over the team's 'papaya rules'

Smedley issues bold F1 team orders verdict

The team came in for hefty criticism for their actions that day, and again just weeks later at the Italian Grand Prix, with the term 'papaya rules' used over the team radio when instructing their drivers how to race against one another.

The term was later mocked by a senior figure within constructors' rivals Red Bull, and now, in the latest episode of the Red Flags Podcast, former F1 engineer Rob Smedley has issued an x-rated verdict on the issue of team orders in the sport more generally when quizzed on the matter.

"Look, Andrea’s an ex-colleague, a friend of mine, so I don’t want to talk specifically about McLaren, but what I would say is there is in general in Formula 1 now, there’s too much pussy-footing around," Smedley explained.

"The way the radio messages go to the driver you know, I don’t watch every single race, but the races I watch I’m like, 'Oh f***ing grow a pair man', just tell him what you need to tell him!"

Rob Smedley was previously Felipe Massa's engineer at Ferrari

The 51-year-old has now taken a step back from F1, but previously worked for Jordan, Williams and most notably, acted as race engineer for Felipe Massa whilst at Ferrari.

Smedley's partnership with Massa began midseason in 2006 and continued until 2013, seeing Massa through to the end of his campaign with the Scuderia, achieving marked success.

During his time with Ferrari however, Smedley experienced his own team orders debacle, where Ferrari were fined $100,000 for breaching regulations at the 2010 German Grand Prix.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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McLaren Lando Norris Formula 1 Oscar Piastri