Verstappen only has an outside chance of winning his fifth title in a row, but if anyone can be trusted, it is the Dutchman, who has proven in recent years that he is always able to get the most out of his car. If Red Bull were competitive again, that would mean lots of victories – and thus chances of winning the title.
Norris and Piastri can feel Verstappen’s hot breath on their necks and want to flee to the front as quickly as possible. This also means that there is no longer any room for consideration for team peace in the form of “Papaya Rules”.
Verstappen follows the hustle and bustle of the competition with amusement: “A title fight is never 100 percent fair,” emphasizes the Dutchman and adds: “You just have to make sure you don’t get into such a situation in the first place.”
And that’s exactly what McLaren failed to do. On the contrary, enforcing the “Papaya Rules” has already been a precarious matter for the racing team. The past races provided the perfect example of this: At the Italian Grand Prix, Norris was in second place ahead of Piastri and would therefore have had the right to come to the pit stop first. Since Piastri was definitely feeling pressure from Leclerc, who was behind him, Norris’ team got permission to bring Piastri into the pits first.
However, this gave the Australian a tire advantage as he was able to drive one lap longer on the fresh tires than his teammate Norris. The result: Piastri made up time. When the team made a mistake during Norris’ pit stop and Norris lost more time, the Brit suddenly found himself behind his teammate. In the spirit of fairness, McLaren was forced to react and instructed Piastri to let Norris pass again. Of course he wasn’t happy, but he obeyed.
Then came the Singapore Grand Prix: Piastri started from third place, Norris only from fifth place. But the Brit got off to a better start and quickly caught up with Piastri and Verstappen, who was in front of him. Norris attempted an overtaking maneuver. However, when Verstappen braked unexpectedly early, Norris had to take evasive action. The evasive maneuver again sent him straight into Piastri, who was pushed towards the wall by the ram and was only able to narrowly avoid a failure. He had to let Norris go.