"I found it a little bit pathetic": Former champion gives his verdict on McLaren's "papaya rules" fiasco

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve said that he found McLaren's initial hesitation of implementing team orders and instead abiding by their 'papaya rules' a 'little bit pathetic'. The British team introduced the term during the Italian GP earlier in the month as a reminder to their drivers to race each other fairly and respectfully.

Despite being arguably the fastest car on the grid right now, the Woking-based team have come under criticism for not implementing team orders in their bid to help Lando Norris in the driver's championship against Max Verstappen this year.

Ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella confirmed that they would be prioritizing Norris over Piastri for the remainder of the season.

While speaking to Sky Sports recently, the 1997 world champion did not hold back from criticizing the team for not favoring the British driver sooner. Villeneuve said (via PlanetF1):

“I mean, I don’t want to be demeaning, I’m trying to find the right words, but I find it a little bit pathetic. This is F1. It’s the pinnacle. If I was a McLaren fan, I would be upset. Do they really want to win? Do they care? It doesn’t sound like they want to win. You know, it’s very utopic, it’s beautiful, but that’s not F1, you are here to win," he said.

"That’s all that matters. Lando got the better of Piastri for the first half of the season. He’s the one with a chance to win. You play by that rule. I really fail to understand this concept of, ‘This is how we work, it’s beautiful, we’re much happier to finish second than to win’. Somehow, it’s weird,” he added.

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McLaren team boss chimes in on prioritizing Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said that the team's first objective for the remainder of the season was to win and confirmed that they would 'bias support' to Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri.

Speaking with BBC, the Italian said (as quoted by "Motorsport"):

“The overall concept is we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win in the right way. We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles. Our principles are that the team's interest always comes first," Stella said.

The MCL36 has been the fastest car ever since the Miami GP and has been a contender for a race win with both their drivers. McLaren are currently just eight points behind Red Bull in the Constructor's Championship with 438 points as compared to the world champions' 446 and could overtake them in Baku.

Lando Norris has a significant gap of 62 points between himself and Max Verstappen in the driver's standings and would need to outscore the Dutchman by at least eight points to take the title.