Every mistake McLaren made this year; how Oscar Piastri still win the championship over Norris, Verstappen

Race 10: Canada – Norris retires after hitting Piastri

Many of McLaren’s errors come down to their insistence of “papaya rules” – the idea that both drivers are treated equally and are free to race each other, so long as they don’t crash into one another, and they do what’s best for the team.

When the season headed to Montreal the temperature was rising. After Norris won the opening race in Melbourne, Piastri emerged as the more consistent driver, winning five of the first nine to take the championship lead.

But as the two McLarens battled for fourth in Canada, competitiveness boiled over, and Norris crashed into the back of Piastri.

Instead of drawing a line in the sand, the team doubled down on papaya rules, insisting it was the McLaren way and that the team wouldn’t have any issues moving forward.

Race 16: Italy – Piastri made to swap positions

However, the Italian Grand Prix highlighted the elasticity of what “papaya rules” means.

With Norris ahead as he went into the pits, a slow stop from the McLaren garage saw Piastri overtake his teammate as Norris exited the pit lane.

McLaren instructed Piastri to give the position back to Norris in a clear blurring of the team’s own racing rules. “We said that a slow pit stop was part of racing,” Piastri said over the radio when asked to let Norris past.

“I don’t really get what changed here, but if you really want me to do it then I’ll do it.”

McLaren claimed it was the fair thing to do in the championship fight, but it appeared McLaren had chosen a favourite.

Race 22: Las Vegas – Double disqualification

The McLaren duo were slapped with a double disqualification in Las Vegas for excessive rear skid block wear on their cars.

An excessively worn skid block allows the car to run lower to the ground and technically gain an advantage and usually results in immediate disqualification.

“As the FIA noted, the breach was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances also existed,” Stella said.

“We apologise to Lando and Oscar for the loss of points today, at a critical time in their championship campaigns after two strong performances from them all weekend.”

The error added 25 points to Verstappen’s tally, drawing him level with Piastri in the championship.

Race 23: Qatar – Not pitting under the safety car

This all leads to McLaren’s latest fumble in Lusail, where Piastri had been dominant all weekend.

After a run of poor form saw the Aussie relinquish his championship lead to Norris, Piastri bounced back with a dominant display.

Piastri was quick off the mark, while Norris lost a place to Verstappen on the opening lap, but when a crash between Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly brought out the safety car the McLaren duo stayed out while 17 other drivers – including Verstappen – pitted under the safety car.

It was a disaster for McLaren. Not wanting to lose time with a double stack in the pit lane, Piastri and Norris got stuck behind the safety car and all the other drivers caught up with fresh tyres and a “cheap” pit stop. When the McLaren duo were forced to pit due to mandated tyre age (maximum 25 laps at Lusail), Verstappen claimed the lead and went on to win.

A racing error? Definitely. But the accusation levelled at McLaren is that the only reason they didn’t pit was because they didn’t want to disadvantage Norris with a double-stack.

Would they have pitted with everyone else if the drivers were the other way around?

It makes for a tense finale in Abu Dhabi, where Norris is guaranteed to win the championship if he can finish in the top six.