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    Piastri expects Papaya Rules to continue in 2026

    1 day ago

    playMax Verstappen reacts to Lando Norris claiming his first F1 world championship (0:49)Check out how Oscar Piastri and other drivers reacted to Lando Norris claiming his first Formula One championship title. (0:49)Oscar Piastri expects McLaren to continue with a policy of "full fairness" and "equality" next season after teammate Lando Norris narrowly beat him to the title this year.Piastri led the championship for more days than any other driver in 2025, but ultimately finished third in the standings, 13 points behind Norris and 11 behind Max Verstappen.McLaren tried to make a point of giving both drivers equal opportunities throughout the season under a policy known as 'Papaya Rules', but was regularly accused of favoritism towards Norris.Piastri said he expected McLaren to continue to offer both drivers a level playing field heading into 2026 and said he will not change his approach just because his teammate is now the reigning champion."I don't think that will change anything," he said after Sunday's season finale in Abu Dhabi. "For me, he's obviously had a great season this year and a deserving champion, but he's still Lando Norris. It's not like he's become Superman.Oscar Piastri finished third in the championship after leading from Saudi Arabia in April to the Mexico Grand Prix in October. Andrew Ferraro/LAT Images"So, I don't think things will change with that. I'm expecting full fairness from the team and equality going forward. I don't have any concerns that that will change at all. Clearly, Lando's had a very strong season this year, and ultimately did a better job."Piastri said McLaren's efforts to give its drivers an equal shot at this year's title led to some awkward moments but ultimately helped both improve."Obviously, it's not easy fighting for both the Constructors' Championship and the Drivers' Championship with two very evenly matched drivers," he said. "But ultimately, that's a problem we knew we were going to have."At the end of the day, I think there's a lot of good things that come from that. Yes, there's difficult moments and tension at times, but I think both Lando and I have become better drivers from pushing each other to the limit. Sometimes that's been uncomfortable for everyone, but ultimately, yeah, it's been a good thing."We've had a lot of discussions through the year, and I'm sure we'll have discussions in the off-season about anything we want to do slightly differently for next year. But I think at the end of the day, they gave us both as good a chance as the team could have to fairly fight for a world championship, and that's all you can ask for."
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