F1 News: McLaren set to 'review' papaya rules after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's tense battle at Monza

McLaren

McLaren set to 'review' papaya rules after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's tense battle at Monza

Papaya this, papaya that

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Tuesday 8 September 2026 12:32

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McLaren boss Andrea Stella has defended his McLaren team's decision to let Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fight over fourth place late in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, but revealed the team will review what went down in Monza.

The pair were effectively squabbling over which one of them would get to try to chase down Max Verstappen for third place, but ended up letting the Dutchman get away as they nipped back and forth at each other.

Two questions were raised by some observers in the aftermath of the race: should Norris, who appeared slightly faster than his team-mate, have been allowed past to chase down Verstappen, and were the team right to give their drivers free rein to fight each other?

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At one moment in the battle, Norris ended up with his car halfway onto the grass at high speed after trying to force his papaya car into a gap that didn't really exist, nearly recreating his infamous Canadian Grand Prix crash from 2025.

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McLaren boss: Norris needed to earn chance to chase Verstappen

Stella defended the decision which ultimately allowed Verstappen to drive away from the McLaren pair, insisting that it was right to let his team's drivers fight as neither of them had a tyre or strategy advantage.

“I think in this situation," he said via F1.com, "we thought that for Lando to be able to have a chance on Max, he should firstly be able to pass Oscar. And the two cars were on the same tyres, same tyre age, same car. So we thought there was no need to interfere with the normal development of the race. We let them race.

“We think that was the right thing to do. I think overall Max was faster, he was just caught in this loop that you have when you lose the slipstream here in Monza, and you have to use the energy to defend from someone else.”

Papaya rules set for review

The Italian also played down the moment which saw Norris drop two wheels onto the grass before complaining about his team-mate, calling it 'much more benign' than it appeared.

He did, however, say that the team will review their decisions and decision-making process before getting to the Madring for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, a leap into the unknown at a brand new circuit.

“The moment in which Lando put the wheels on the grass, he came on the radio, he made a comment like he pushed me off or something," Stella said. "But actually, when we reviewed it, I think we saw that the episode is much more benign than what it might have looked in the heat of the moment.

“So I think it's something that certainly we will review, and we will review in the context of this kind of racing. As soon as you fight with each other, then you may lose time.

"So was there a better way for McLaren to give a fight to Verstappen? We will review. It wasn't obvious to us on the pit wall, and we thought that it was more important to let them race according to our philosophy of going racing.”