If McLaren order Piastri to hand Norris the title, he's lost to them. They should still do it

'Multi 21'. 'Fernando is faster, do you understand?' 'Don't ask that again to me'. Team orders have been in and out of fashion in F1, and there's a non-zero chance that a simple message on the radio decides the world championship this year.

McLaren having two cars fighting for the drivers' title this weekend in Abu Dhabi, which would be the most obviously 'let them race' situation of all time...if Max Verstappen wasn't stuck right in the middle of them in the standings.

Verstappen's presence as a very real title contender has turned what McLaren had hoped would be a simple coronation of one of their star drivers into a potential nightmare scenario.

The team has talked for the last two years about being fair to both drivers – about not favouring either over the other, about not flipping the 'team orders' switch until and unless the maths says there's no other way to do things.

Looking at the way the second half of the season's gone, it's eminently possible that we could be coming into the final laps of Sunday's championship decider with Max Verstappen out in front, perennial party-crasher George Russell second, Oscar Piastri third and Lando Norris fourth.

In that situation, Norris would lose the championship by one point. Piastri giving up his third place would hand him the title. McLaren have to pull the trigger on that and swap the cars to secure the team's first drivers' championship since 2008. How could they not?

McLaren might have to make a serious sacrifice for the 2025 title

The fallout would be cataclysmic. They shouldn't for a moment be factoring in the fan reaction if they make the swap, but there are a growing number of Piastri fans who think he's got the raw end of a number of the team's decisions this year. They will be furious – and like it or not, given the number of people close to him who are pretty active on social media, some of that's going to filter back to the man himself.

If you're constantly being told that you're being treated badly, aren't you going to start to believe it just a little bit?

Piastri seems like a level headed young man, but he's clearly been frustrated with factors outside his own performance this year. Zak Brown can slap some brash American charm on it all he wants, but McLaren are sitting on a nuclear bomb right now. Asking Piastri to be the one who hands the championship to Norris might be the things that sets it off.

F1 history is littered with the debris of title-challenging teams who tried to have two number one drivers. Prost couldn't stand Senna so much that he left for Ferrari. Mansell couldn't stand working with Prost so much that he left the sport for IndyCar on the spot – as reigning champion. Alonso and Hamilton at McLaren went sour almost immediately. However well you manage it, the situation devolves into backbiting, paranoia and mistrust faster than you can say 'papaya rules'.

'Papaya rules'. What a stupid, stupid thing to commit to record. The moment that came out of anyone's mouth in public, it was going to be a millstone around the neck of this driver pairing for as long as they're on the same team.

You don't need a catchy term for a mandate of 'you can race your team-mate, but don't hit him'. The fact that it's being used as a catch-all for the internal decision-making of the team is a problem of their own making, because someone wanted to look slick and have a code phrase. The phrase 'papaya rules' has probably done more to fuel conspiracy and nonsense than any other thing the team have done. 'Just race sensibly'. There. Saved you six months of media pain.

One of these two drivers will leave the team before signing a new deal, that's almost assured at this point. If Piastri has to be the one to hand Norris the world championship he believes should be his, he'll be gone before the end of his contract. Coat it in as much performed camaraderie as you want, but we've seen this play before. We know how it ends.

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