Oscar Piastri Hints McLaren May Change Controversial “Papaya Rules”

McLaren’s team order that prevented Oscar Piastri from winning the driver’s title in the 2025 season has remained highly debated. The team was criticized on multiple occasions following their favoritism towards Lando Norris through the ‘Papaya Rules’. Though Piastri did not speak much on it back then, the Aussie now hints that the rules may receive a massive overhaul for the 2026 season.

Since the beginning of the 2025 season, McLaren had refused to intervene between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fighting on track. However, the team backtracked on their decision and asked Piastri to give up position at the Italian GP. This drew a lot of criticism, but Woking did not change its ways. The Aussie even hinted that there were things to discuss as he ultimately lost the title.

Speaking on the team orders heading into the new regulations in 2026, Oscar Piastri insisted that the team had its own way of going racing with two competitive drivers. Piastri highlighted that the rules were constantly evolving and the situation had already reviewed before. The 24-year-old pointed out that the team will assess the situation once again as they go racing in the 2026 season.

But, we’ve got our ways of going racing, and it’s constantly evolving. We’ll do a review, and we already have reviewed. Do we want to do things exactly the same? Do we want to change things a bit? We’ll get a handle on that fully before we go racing again.

Oscar Piastri told Channel 9.

Oscar Piastri reassured that he always had the right intention in terms of fighting for the driver’s title against his teammate, Lando Norris. However, if the squad feels that the Papaya Rules need some tweaking, they would do it to make life easier for themselves. For now, the team aims to start the season on the best possible note and keep up with their championship-winning streak.

For me, the intentions were always in the right place, and we’ll do some tweaking if we feel we need it, to try and make life a bit easier for ourselves.

Oscar Piastri added.

Oscar Piastri claims McLaren’s discussion ‘much smaller deal’ than anticipated

Certainly, losing the driver’s title partly because of the Papaya Rules might warrant a massive chain-reaction from Oscar Piastri at McLaren. Though the team does not reveal its discussion to the public, many believe that it is a big discussion. However, Piastri reassured that the entire ordeal is much simpler and smaller for the squad as compared to what was anticipated by the people from the outside.

Oscar Piastri acknowledged that the entire matter was talked about a lot by people from the outside. Even within McLaren, discussions were always ongoing about the status quo. But Piastri noted that it was a much smaller discussion and smaller deal than what it was made out to be. Woking isn’t ruining relationships within the team purely because of the team order fiasco.

It gets talked about a lot, Behind the scenes, it’s a much smaller discussion and a smaller deal than what it gets made out to be.

Oscar Piastri noted

The new regulations might turn out to be positive for McLaren as well, since Mercedes is rumored to be at the forefront of power unit development. Moreover, the Papaya drivers are also people’s favorite to keep up with their winning streak in the coming season. Oscar Piastri might be hungrier for the title win now following the near-miss against his teammate in the 2025 season.

Read More: Christian Horner “in Negotiations” to buy Alpine Shares of Ryan Reynolds and Michael B. Jordan

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates and curated insights directly to your inbox.

Subscribe NOW