Papaya is a happy color. It also fits particularly well with the McLaren racing team because it marks the change from a thoroughly anthracite traditional racing team with permanently declining success to the current Formula 1 leader. The balance of power in the motorsport king class was veiled by the rain race in Melbourne last Sunday, which is why everything begins again this weekend at the China Grand Prix. The British team then competes with a victory of Lando Norris in the back, but also with the first reset from his partner Oscar Piatri.
A good relationship between the two equivalent talents is supposed to be through the so -called Papaya Rules be maintained. The most important point of these rules says that the two teammates are not allowed to drive each other into the car, especially the mostly delicate starting phase is regulated. But as is the case with the bureaucracy – it withstands real life only to a limited extent. Second race, next conflict situation: stable order or stable war.
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Above all, a case has shown how important a clear regulation is. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost once started so that they even prevented a perfect season of the McLaren racing team with 16 wins with their exhausting feud in 1988. At the time, Senna had put pressure on Senna at the time in Monza that the Brazilian had to put back in the decisive final phase and had to leave Ferrari the triumph – otherwise he would be rolled out without petrol. The old story is getting new swing again.
Norris, 25, and Piatri, 23, are considered the most balanced driver in the current field. Soothing and disturbing at the same time for team boss Andrea Stella. He had to promise both free travel and had to break the agreement immediately in the first race.
Piatri must fear that Norris’ role as number one could have been cemented with the Melbourne order
“Hold position” is the name of the radio message that all racing drivers fear, because attacking is firmly anchored in the deeper meaning of this sport and in every driver. Oscar Piatri was on half of the Australia Grand Prix and it was to overtake the leading teammate Norris. Until in the middle of the race came from the command stand. Stall director is in the Formula 1 – in the sense of team sustainability – has not been banned since 2010. But nevertheless every director’s instruction raises the question of morality, especially among the spectators. It is a bad ghost.
But at the McLaren command stand, they are still under the impression of the pre-season, when the World Cup constructor titles could be achieved with joint efforts. At the same time, the team had granted the two pilots too long with the result that Lando Norris lacked decisive points in his title fight against Max Verstappen.
The intervention in the racing in the Albert Park of Melbourne was pure risk management, on which unpredictable, wet slopes did not want to risk unnecessary bike-to-wheel duel. Probably knowing that the approaching Piatri was determined to do everything, and also to be rounded off in front of both. Therefore, the instruction came to protect the leading one. This was only lifted later, when Piatri had dropped back. The young Australian, just equipped with a long -term contract, had only briefly mocked himself via pit radio: “I’m faster than Lando, but I do it.” Nevertheless, he has to fear that Norris’ role as number one could be cemented. Piatri was only ninth in Melbourne after a driving error.
Team boss Stella had claimed that both drivers had been informed about the facts, which was probably not true
At the sprint race in Shanghai on Saturday morning German time, 25-year-old Norris will start as sixth-while Piatri begins as third, behind Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari in pole position and stages. Andrea Stella had to calm down the corresponding reporter in Melbourne: “We solve the handbrake again at Oscar!” The ban was only a temporary ban. It was noticeable to the engineer how he tried to take the explosiveness out of the sensitive topic. McLaren had learned his lesson in early 2007 when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso made life so difficult that in the end Kimi Raikkonen was third in the Ferrari.
Stella had claimed that both drivers had been informed about the facts, which was probably not true. Because Lando Norris cheerfully chatted in Shanghai: “You only said it to Oscar, not to me.” The World Cup leader adopts the argument of its bosses: “If we had strayed from the slopes in the fight, we would have looked like idiots.” This is the simplest, the most difficult and cross -racing table in the internal ratio of two chauffeurs: you are allowed to do everything – just don’t crash. This is the risk of team bosses who rely on equality. Their calculation is, as shown by Norris and Piatri in the past, that one gets the best out of the other and that the rivals of the racetrack drive each other in the sense of the common good.
The McLaren MCL39-Mercedes may be the best balanced car, but to keep the pilots in the same balance is still a piece of work. Because every order, no matter how reasonable, usually only withstands the racing driver temperament to a limited extent. Piatris also premature contract extension should only have a short -relieving effect on flaming conflicts. His manager Mark Webber will take care of this, who had to defend himself in favor of his internal competitor Sebastian Vettel during his active career at Red Bull Racing. “During the week, we had some good conversations about what we could have done better or differently,” said Piatri and manifested his position, “and we have discussed intensively how we can find a better solution in the future.” It’s about the pulmon of the papaya.
#McLaren #Formula #balance
