Latest news with #PapayaRules
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Amidst Rain and Chaos Lando Norris Holds Off Max Verstappen in F1's Season Opener
Lando Norris won the Australian Grand Prix from the pole Sunday afternoon, but the laps in between were anything but ordinary as rain, rookies, and bold tire calls threw havoc into every corner of the first race of the 2025 F1 season. Norris starts his season one position ahead of Max Verstappen, who he spent all of 2024 chasing while trying to bring McLaren their first driver's championship since 2008. With his lead after the first race, McLaren leads for the first time since 2012. The race was delayed 10 minutes when Isack Hadjar ended up in the wall on the formation lap, leading the remaining 19 cars to reset. With the temporary course in Albert Park still wet, the first lap mirrored the formation lap with a second rookie ending up in the wall, Jack Doohan in his first home grand prix and four-time race winner Carlos Sainz in his first race with Williams. With three cars retired before one lap was completed, the race went back green on lap eight. Norris was followed by Max Verstappen, who moved to second and passed Norris' McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri on the opening lap. Nine laps later, Verstappen would make a mistake, and Piastri would retake second place to the roar of his home crowd. Piastri was turning laps a hair faster than his teammate, and when he was within striking distance, with the track still wet, the McLaren pit wall radioed to tell their newly resigned driver to fall back. Giving fans the first taste of the controversial and often changing Papaya Rules, McLaren has to deal with having two drivers routinely competing for wins. Fernando Alonso was the fourth driver to retire, ending up in the wall on lap 34. With the sun peeking out, the track-drying drivers took the virtual safety car as the time to pit. The field split between hard and medium tires, and the McLarens cycled back to the front. With rain on the horizon, nine of the 10 teams gambled, pushing their slicks as far as possible. While running first and second, Norris and Piastri both lost control with Norris correcting in time to stay on the pavement and Piastri spinning into the wet grass. Piastri ultimately spun his wheels and was able to back up and regain traction on the track but his chance of winning his home Grand Prix slipped away with the spin. He would rebound to finish eighth, passing Esteban Ocon with two laps remaining and Lewis Hamilton in the final corners. When the McLarens pitted after their spins, Max Verstappen stayed out, taking the lead for the first time this season. Ultimately, he had to box as the rain became too much to handle on slick tires. "There was a bit of a panic," Verstappen told F1TV. "[McLaren] went in, I stayed out. The first time, honestly, I think it was all right, but the weather continued a little bit more on the other side of the track, and we then had to box. At the end of the day, even if we would've boxed one lap earlier, we still would have been P2 after that stop. I think it was worth the gamble, it was quite spicy out there on the slick tires." You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
McLaren Hasn't Had A Stable Driver Lineup In 25 Seasons, Secures Piastri And Norris Through At Least 2028
McLaren won its first Formula 1 World Constructors' Championship since 1998 last year with driver pairing Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. As of Wednesday morning, with Piastri's pre-season contract extension until at least the end of the 2027 season, the team has secured this championship-winning driver pairing for at least the next three seasons. Norris and Piastri have been paired together since Piastri joined the team in 2023, giving them a minimum of five seasons together by the time their commitments come to a close. McLaren hasn't had this kind of steady and reliable driving talent since long-serving champ Mika Häkkinen (paired with David Coulthard for six seasons) left F1 after the 2001 season. There is something to be said for maintaining a steady hand when you've got a pair of drivers who work well together and are both capable of winning in the right machinery. Piastri may not have all of Norris' outright speed, but he's a reliable driver who can score points when needed. Norris netted four wins for McLaren in 2024, while Piastri won two Grands Prix. Extending Piastri's contract just makes too much sense, as the team doesn't want thinking about contracts or perhaps being courted by another team to distract him from the job of going fast. Read more: Cale Yarborough Won The Daytona 500 In A Show Car Borrowed From A Local Hardee's Restaurant Across 2024 McLaren acted under the "Papaya Rules" which was a thinly veiled code word which allowed drivers Norris and Piastri to race each other for position, but they had to be clean about it. This was basically a message to Lando Norris that the team wouldn't artificially slow Piastri down in order to keep him behind Lando or use his on-track presence to enhance Lando's race. The team modified how it responded to the season as Norris became the only driver who could potentially hold up to Red Bull's dominant Max Verstappen on points, and began pushing Piastri to assist his teammate in their championship push. If they'd committed to this practice from race one, they might have been able to push Lando to his first driver's championship. As it was, however, Max went on to grab his fourth in a row. All of the best dynasties in racing place a single driver on the point as their primary focus with their teammate playing support. Ferrari did this with Michael Schumacher and it upended every record book the series had ever written. Mercedes supported Lewis Hamilton through this, to a lesser extent, and Red Bull is doing it right now with Max at the helm. In order for McLaren to repeat as constructors' champions, it will need to push both drivers to perform at their best, but pushing one driver to the point will help gain every valuable point in the season. That neither driver has to worry about their contract is a great start to a potentially great season. McLaren looked fastest in pre-season testing, but there's a long way to go and a lot of miles to race between here and the end of the season at Abu Dhabi in early December. The F1 season begins this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix. We won't really know how fast McLaren is until we see all the cars compete on track. It's been a short off-season, but I'm ready to have my heart broken by agonizingly boring and processional racing again. Let's go! Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
