McLaren blamed for Lando Norris failure and told 'nobody cares' about F1 title win
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McLaren's "pathetic" Papaya Rules meant they missed "a great opportunity" for Lando Norris to become drivers' champion this year. That is the view of Jacques Villeneuve, who has been particularly scathing of the way they team controlled its drivers. Norris and Oscar Piastri were to never risk making contact with one another and there were several examples of team orders which forced one drivers to concede a position to the other.
It was an approach which did lead to McLaren seeing off the challenge of rivals Ferrari to become constructors' champions for the first time since 1998. But Norris missed out on the drivers' title with Max Verstappen proving too strong in the end. And Villeneuve points his finger squarely at the Brit's team. The 1997 champion believes the constructors' title is a secondary prize compared to the drivers' championship and thinks McLaren should have done more to help Norris get the better of Verstappen.
"It doesn't sound like a rule! They should call it the watermelon rule or the fig rule, I don't know," he told Mirror Sport, via SportsCasting, when asked if he still stood by his "pathetic" comment made earlier this year even in light of McLaren's teams' title success.
"McLaren lost so many points in the drivers' championship. They missed a great opportunity to put pressure on Max. They could have been world champions. I know they won the constructors' championship and it's more money in the bank but nobody cares. "People only relate to the driver and the team that won with that driver. Aside from the season just gone, every time Max was world champion, Red Bull also won the constructors' championship but this year they didn't and nobody cares. They care about Max winning with Red Bull.
