Among the most unusual things about Formula One is the relationship between the two driver teammates, where a thousandth of a second can mean the difference between immortal glory and a footnote in history.
It’s this fragile dance between driver expectations and following team orders that has plagued McLaren since ascending Australian F1 superstar Oscar Piastri proved his worthiness to compete at the top of the grid alongside Lando Norris.
You may have heard of the famous ‘papaya rules’, a term coined by McLaren Racing CEO and team principal, Zak Brown.
In a nutshell, they are an internal set of rules whereby Piastri and his teammate Norris – the 2025 champion – can freely compete against one another so long as they avoid damaging the cars.
The rules essentially allow two drivers with championship qualities to go all out for the win, rather than one strategically holding back to set the other up for success. However they must also do so fairly, with the team result still the main priority.
Though in theory playing it neutral is the safest way to avoid internal conflict, fans and spectators saw glimpses the papaya rules falling short in the 2025 season.
Though Piastri led the drivers championship for most of last season, the Melburnian would eventually lose the title to teammate Lando Norris by 13 points – a smaller margin than the points he sacrificed in team-ordered swaps.
But ahead of the 2026 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Piastri said he won't "go on a rebellious streak" and chase his own goals despite speculation the Australian F1 star is unhappy with his role.
When asked by Drive if this season is about winning for McLaren or proving to everyone he's no longer willing to be the number two behind his teammate and reigning champion, Piastri said the two young drivers "will always race in the best interest of the team".
"A pretty quick-fire way to make sure you're not going to win a championship is to go against your own team. I don't have anything to prove," Piastri said.
Despite Brown’s previously stating there is no second driver at Mclaren and “only two number ones”, that ethos has haunted the team in the past, culminating in the famous rivalry between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
In some ways, the new generation of McLaren drivers shares distinct parallels with the two fabled legends, with Lando Norris’ aggressive driving style echoing that of Senna’s, while Oscar Piastri’s calculated precision and calm demeanour mirroring that of Prost’s.
It's too soon to say if the two young drivers will have the same success or impact as the two legends, but the similarities in driving styles and grid-etiquette between the two generations of drivers are uncanny.
Who could forget the close resemblance between the infamous collision between Prost and Senna at the 1989 Suzuka Grand Prix and the bungle between Piastri and Lando at the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix?
With Piastri leading the driver’s championship into the weekend, Norris was 25 points behind his teammate and needed every single point to remain in contention.
But during the first lap, Norris misjudged the gap, hitting the back of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull before clashing wheels with Piastri, causing the Melburnian to drop from third to fifth while Norris moved up to third.
Piastri sounded annoyed during the race when he said, “Yeah, I mean, that wasn’t very team-like”.
On the second lap, Piastri – still frustrated at the incident – stated, “So, are we cool with Lando just barging me out of the way?”
After being told the team would investigate the situation after the race, Piastri replied, “That’s not fair, I’m sorry. That’s not fair.”
Despite McLaren stating they do not prioritise either driver, the team controversially allowed Norris to maintain the position despite the contact with his teammate, which led to the UK driver closing the gap to 22 points with six races remaining before he eventually won his first world championship in 2025.
Fans and critics argue that the decision showed McLaren’s favouritism towards Norris, with rumours of tension between Piastri and the team only growing after the Aussie was absent from the team’s post-race group celebration after winning the Constructors Championship in Singapore.
However, Piastri dismissed any claims of animosity between him and Norris, unlike Prost and Senna, whose rivalry remained heated until Prost's retirement in 1993.
"We've always had the freedom to race for our own individual results, and on some occasions, we've not always made the perfect decision. But I think for me, the important thing is there's never been any bad intention with that," Piastri told the media, including Drive.
"We've had a lot of learning about things we can do differently, things we can do better. We've had discussions and worked on things that we can do better this year."
Ethan Cardinal graduated with a Journalism degree in 2020 from La Trobe University and has been working in the fashion industry as a freelance writer prior to joining Drive in 2023. Ethan greatly enjoys investigating and reporting on the cross sections between automotive, lifestyle and culture. Ethan relishes the opportunity to explore how deep cars are intertwined within different industries and how they could affect both casual readers and car enthusiasts.
