Norris/Piastri crash in Singapore: will it cost McLaren 10 million dollars?

The so-called ‘Papaya Rule’ (named after McLaren’s racing car colour) is quite simple: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are allowed to race hard against each other, but it must always remain fair, and contact between the cars is absolutely unacceptable.

But that is exactly the sort of collision that occurred, shortly before the end of the Singapore Sprint. The Australian, Piastri, was forced to retire, the Englishman Norris dropped back to P8, and team principal Andrea Stella was absolutely livid.

The Italian only commented on the incident after Saturday evening’s GP qualifying session, still visibly annoyed. “To see two McLarens collide like that is simply unacceptable. It’s something we’ll be discussing with our drivers again. We’ll do that behind closed doors. We’ll have to emphasise to them once again that the team’s interests far outweigh those of any individual.”

Former McLaren driver David Coulthard (55), a 13-time Grand Prix winner and 2001 World Championship runner-up, says in his podcast ‘Up to Speed’: “It’s tricky to work out what the appropriate penalty is when Formula 1 drivers are caught engaging in the ‘forbidden tango’. It always takes two to tango in such a situation, and the person who literally set the whole thing in motion was the one who touched the rear wheel of the car in front.” That would therefore be Lando Norris.

Coulthard continues: “I’ve heard from a few team insiders that they’ve never seen their CEO (Zak Brown, M.B.) and their team principal (Andrea Stella, M.B.) as angry as they were after this crash.”

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The anger is understandable. After all, in the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull Racing is now just seven points behind third-placed McLaren. Whether it’s third place in the constructors’ standings or fourth – that makes a difference of around 10 million dollars in prize money.