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Dec.6 (GMM) Championship leader Lando Norris ended Friday in Abu Dhabi looking the fastest man on track – and McLaren has now performed what media are calling an eleventh hour U-turn, openly abandoning its season-long “Papaya Rules” policy of intra-team fairness.
Despite Norris being able to seal the title even with P3 on Sunday, team CEO Zak Brown said he will not hesitate to impose team orders on Oscar Piastri if the situation demands it.
“Obviously we’ll be practical and realistic,” Brown admitted. “We’re a team that wants to win the Drivers’ Championship, and we will race accordingly, to do whatever we can to get that driver in front to try and win the race.”
Pressed on whether Piastri will actually obey those orders – after George Russell jokingly advised the Australian to “turn the radio off” – Brown was emphatic: “Yes.
“Our drivers have always complied with team wishes. I’ve got no doubt either of our drivers will continue to race as they’ve done brilliantly – in the best interest of the team.”
The shift in tone follows a season in which McLaren’s attempts to appear impeccably fair backfired, fuelling criticism, tension, and a perception – even admitted by Norris – that “it’s not what people want – people want chaos.”
Brown, however, insisted on Friday that much of the noise is “nonsense”.
On the other side of the title fight, Max Verstappen sounded resigned after Friday practice.
“I don’t think we’re quick enough,” he said – a view backed by Red Bull’s own data and a blunt Dr Helmut Marko.
“The car clearly has understeer, and that’s something Max doesn’t like anyway,” he said. Setup changes for FP2 “did not have the desired effect,” and the long runs told the same story: “Our tyre wear was higher than McLaren’s.”
As for the third man in the title race, Piastri, Marko had hoped the Australian would at least be ahead of Norris.
“It’s unfortunately the case that Norris is the fastest McLaren driver and not Oscar Piastri,” said the 82-year-old. “We would have preferred to see it the other way around.”
“And I don’t see anyone at Ferrari or Mercedes who is fast enough,” he shrugged.
As for relying on McLaren repeating its recent mistakes, Marko continued: “We can’t trust a McLaren mistake three times in a row. We have to fight on the basis of our own strength.”
Despite the deficit, Verstappen’s ultra-relaxed demeanour has impressed his team boss Laurent Mekies – “There’s no acting there,” he said.
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