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McLaren’s infamous papaya rules were one of the biggest talking points of the 2025 season, and even caught the attention of politicians in Oscar Piastri’s homeland.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris fought an intriguing battle throughout last season that was gatecrashed and nearly ruined by Max Verstappen at the last moment.
McLaren managed to secure both championships despite the Dutchman’s efforts, but some people in Piastri’s camp weren’t happy with the treatment that he received.
Name the one driver you think is most likely to lose their F1 seat in 2026 👇
Piastri handed back a position to Norris at Monza following a slow pit stop, and the pair clashed in Singapore and Austin before the British driver took the lead in the championship.
The 24-year-old was prepared to play second fiddle to Norris at the final race in Abu Dhabi to fend off Verstappen, although it never came to that.
Now, Piastri has reacted to when his treatment at McLaren was discussed in the Australian parliament, when it was suggested that the team was ‘biased’ against him and ‘costing him a world championship’.
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Oscar Piastri explains how McLaren have streamlined the papaya rules going into 2026
Piastri was then asked in an interview with 7NEWS Australia about how McLaren’s papaya rules are going to change in 2026 and explained: “I think it is just streamlining it, really. I think last year we got ourselves into some scenarios we didn’t need to necessarily, and added a lot more stress to certain things than was probably necessary.
“I think we’ve all, in the offseason, taken some time to look back on that and realise that there are things we need to do differently.
“I think all of those scenarios we found ourselves in came from good intentions, but they required a lot of effort at certain points.
Did Oscar Piastri just end the debate over McLaren’s papaya rules?
“So, I think we’ve got some good ideas on how we’re going to streamline it. I think the biggest message is we want to go racing as fairly as we can, whilst trying to get the most points for the team.
“It’s a bit different if you’re fighting for first and second in the world championship or a little bit further back.
“So, we’ll see what our competitiveness is like, but I think we’ve got a good plan on how we can make things a little bit easier for ourselves.”
McLaren boss Zak Brown will be keen for Norris and Piastri to stay on good terms for as long as possible.
They’re one of the strongest driver pairings in Formula 1, but as it always is when two number one drivers come up against each other, keeping them both onside is extremely difficult.
READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine
Oscar Piastri says McLaren had no ‘bad intentions’ despite Australian parliament discussion
Piastri responded to his championship efforts being discussed in the Senate.
Senator Matt Canavan was the person who posed the question about potential McLaren bias, and Piastri said: “I saw, and I think for me the takeaway from that was just how closely everyone was supporting it more than anything else.
“I think there were certainly no bad intentions last year, and I think as a team we know that there are things that we could have done a better job of, things we could have done differently, and I know that as well.
“But, at no point were there any bad intentions or certainly no sabotage as I’ve seen around a few times.
“But, that’s part of racing. Some things go as you want, some things don’t. And we’ve worked very hard on trying to tidy up some of the things we didn’t get right last year.
“And I’m confident that we can do a better job in 2026 on the whole.”
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