McLaren claimed their first constructors’ title in 26 years in 2024 as they dethroned Red Bull.
Claiming eight pole positions – all from Lando Norris – and six wins across the season, the Woking-based outfit beat Ferrari to the championship by just 14 points.
| Position | Constructors’ Standings | Points |
| 1 | 666 | |
| 2 | 652 | |
| 3 | 589 | |
| 4 | 468 | |
| 5 | 94 | |
| 6 | 65 | |
| 7 | 58 | |
| 8 | 46 | |
| 9 | 17 | |
| 10 | 4 |
However, neither Norris nor Oscar Piastri could capitalise on the pace of the McLaren to win the Drivers’ Championship. Max Verstappen claimed his fourth consecutive title over the former by 63 points.
The McLaren drivers supported each other for the most part throughout the season, handing each other victories. This was due to the team’s intervention with ‘papaya rules’, aiming to aid Norris’ bid to win the title.
The term ‘papaya rules’ was first explained in Monza as McLaren’s rules of engagement for their drivers when battling on track. It was almost instantly seen as controversial, mainly due to the incident in Hungary where Norris had to relinquish the win to Piastri after undercutting him in the pits.
At the Italian Grand Prix, ‘papaya rules’ would ultimately cost McLaren victory to Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, as CEO Zak Brown admitted the drivers misunderstood their commands.
McLaren didn’t do a ‘very good job’ explaining papaya rules to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at Italian GP
Norris qualified on pole in a McLaren one-two. The Brit held on to his lead after the first chicane, but Piastri divebombed him at the second chicane.
James Hinchcliffe called Piastri’s move ‘dirty’ – but it would ultimately costs them victory as Norris ran wide and lost second to Leclerc. The Monagasque driver would later take the lead and hold on to win.
Speaking with The Intercooler, CEO Zak Brown says McLaren were not ‘explicit’ enough in their commands to their drivers. He instructed them not to take risks, but Piastri saw the opportunity to overtake his teammate.
“I think we’re fortunate to have Lando and Oscar because to your point, while they want to beat everybody, themselves included, they’re two great guys”, said Brown.
“And then I think you do it through transparency, fairness, being equitable. And we’re not always going to get it right and we didn’t get everything right last year.
“But we own it, we talk about it and then you have constant communications and expectations set in before the weekend, before a race day morning.
“So, everything is kind of fresh, we spoke about it and then you try and see what the difference circumstances are. I’ll give you an example, in Monza.
“We told the drivers, and I don’t think we did a very good job at being explicit, we said: ‘Don’t take any risks’.
“So Lando didn’t really defend because he thought: ‘Well let’s not take risks’. Oscar went: ‘Well the door’s wide open’. It was a great move, but Hey that’s not a risk, the door’s open’.
“What we should have said was: ‘Don’t pass until we give you the green light because what we want to do is gap the field, then you guys are free to race”.
Lando Norris will face pressure from Oscar Piastri in 2025
Following Monza, Piastri had to take a step back to aid his teammate in the title fight. Now with points reset to zero, the Aussie is looking to stamp his authority.
Piastri wants to avoid team orders in 2025, suggesting he wants to fight Norris and battle for the title. This sets up an exciting intra-team battle with McLaren considered one of the favourites for the championship.
The Woking-based outfit will have learned a lot from battling Verstappen and Red Bull in 2024 – particularly Norris who mounted a title charge for the first time in his career.
Mario Andretti says Norris will have learned from starting at the front, while will stand him in good stead to go one step further and become a world champion.
However, the Brit will face intense competition from Piastri who will be free – for now at least – from intervention by McLaren.