Halfway through the 2025 F1 season, Oscar Piastri becoming the Drivers' Champion seemed like a guarantee. McLaren was dominating the sport, Red Bull's drop in performance seemingly took Max Verstappen out of contention, and Lando Norris couldn't match Piastri's pace.
Something that became clear during the season was that McLaren's use of team orders—dubbed "Papaya Rules"—was doing little to benefit either Piastri or Norris. Many felt the latter was being prioritised, and Piastri's apparent unhappiness with that seemingly factored into a drastic downturn that saw him drop from first to third in the Championship by season's end.
Papaya Rules were hugely controversial and largely overshadowed an otherwise stellar year for McLaren. One such example saw Piastri told to allow Norris to pass him in Monza, solely because the British driver had a slow pit stop and lost track position.
While it sounds like Papaya Rules will continue in 2026, Piastri tells Fox Sports that there will be something of an evolution.
"It will look different. We probably caused headaches for ourselves that we didn’t need to at points last year," the Australian explained. "But I think as a general principle and a general way of going racing it does bring a lot of positives with it. It’s just how do we refine that, to try and keep it to just positives basically."
"Some tweaks for sure this year, but I think it’s pretty clear that we still want to go racing as much as a team as we can," Piastri continued. "I think there was a lot more made out about it than actually happens. And there was a lot of hypothetical situations, and a lot of people that kind of think without knowing the complete inner workings. A lot of things appear differently to how they actually are."
As is so often the case in Formula 1, much has been said about Piastri's apparent unhappiness with how McLaren treated him last year. Now that Norris is the champion, there could be a shift heading into this season. However, there's nothing to say their dominance will continue amid the latest regulation changes.
That should become clear when the F1 season begins this March in Australia, Piastri's home race. Stay tuned on Monday, as McLaren will reveal the livery for its 2026 challenger...