Going into the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren was clearly the strongest team on the grid. Although Ferrari brought several upgrades to the car which improved the overall race pace, they were still not able to match McLaren’s pace on track. However, during the Grand Prix, McLaren made several strategic errors that cost them the win.
McLaren throws away Grand Prix victory at Monza
During the qualifying session for the race, both the McLarens were able to get a front-row lockout with Lando on pole. With such a strong starting position for both the McLaren drivers, the win was almost guaranteed.
When the race began, Lando got a good launch but lost position to his teammate, Oscar Piastri going into the 2nd chicane. Due to the loss of momentum at the exit of the 2nd chicane, Lando lost out to Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari as well.
Papaya rules 👀
And Oscar was in no mood to wait around 💪#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/6wnNtYF7QV
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 1, 2024
Since then, Leclerc was able to stay close enough to the leader to be a constant threat to the race win. Initially, it was predicted that most of the teams would go for a 1-stop strategy. However, McLaren decided to pit both their cars, giving the lead to Leclerc who was continuing with the 1-stop strategy.
When Lando Norris was closer and faster behind Oscar Piastri, instead of enforcing team orders to let Lando pass Piastri, the team put “papaya rules” into effect. These decisions by the McLaren pit wall eventually cost them a 1-2 finish for the race.
What are the “Papya Rules”?
The Papaya Rules radio message from McLaren has raised this question. After the race, Nico Rosberg asked Zak Brown what the papaya rules were. To this, the McLaren CEO replied:
“Papaya rules are it’s your teammate; race him hard, race him clean, don’t touch, that happened. It was an aggressive pass so that’s a conversation we’ll have, that was a bit nerve-wracking on pit wall but it’s really just respect your teammate.” – Zak Brown
There it is, the Papaya rules basically state that the drivers are allowed to race each other, but just not too hard and definitely avoid any contact whatsoever. With these rules, they are basically not picking a priority driver for the season. But is this fair given the current Championship Standings?
Papaya family. 🧡#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/7nHN2jl6av
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 1, 2024
After the Italian Grand Prix, Lando Norris is 62 points behind Max Verstappen who is leading in the points table. Oscar PIastri is trailing Max by 106 points. With just 8 more races to go, Lando clearly has the best chance of winning the Championship among the 2 McLaren drivers. Hence, it is about time that the team starts to prioritize Lando.
Looking at the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren should have made it clear to Oscar that if Lando is still leading the race after the first corner, do not attempt to overtake him. Stay behind Lando and help the team bring home a 1-2 finish. Even when the team enforced papaya rules, they should have instead told Piastri to let Lando through.
These were mistakes that have cost Lando and the team a lot of points. Going to the next race in Baku, they will need to start prioritizing Lando if they want him to win the Championship.
What are your thoughts on McLaren’s strategic errors during the race? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
