Johnny Herbert makes ‘papaya rules’ claim after Lando Norris booed at Italian GP

Taking to the podium as runner-up at the Italian Grand Prix, McLaren’s Lando Norris was subject to booing from sections of the crowd.

Former F1 driver and steward Johnny Herbert is “sure” that this reaction was influenced by McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ of engagement between Norris and Oscar Piastri. It was a race which saw team orders controversially come into play.

Lando Norris booed at Monza: Johnny Herbert points to ‘papaya rules’

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rolled back the clock and was in a class of his own at Monza.

Having secured pole with a new lap record, Verstappen was instructed by Red Bull to concede the race lead to Norris after cutting the opening chicane at the start. Verstappen obliged, soon re-passed Norris, and never looked back.

Norris secured the runner-up result, though had a scare along the way, as a slow pit-stop meant he came out behind team-mate Piastri. Norris had okayed McLaren pitting Piastri first in order to cover off any threat from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

While some would consider that the kind of bad luck which is part and parcel of racing, McLaren stepped in, ordering Piastri to let Norris back through. Piastri said as much in his defence, but followed the order, allowing Norris through and on his way to the P2 result.

Norris was subject to booing during the post-race podium ceremony.

Reacting to that, Herbert told a gambling platform: “I’m sure there was a little bit of the papaya rules that came into play with McLaren, which prompted the booing.”

The ‘papaya rules’ term came to be in 2024, and is regarded as effectively the principles and rules of combat for Norris and Piastri.

Reacting to the controversial team order, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher and other media outlets: “However the championship goes, what’s important is that the championship runs within the principles and the racing values that we have at McLaren and that we have created together with our drivers.

“The fact that we went first with Oscar, compounded by the slow pit-stop of Lando, then led to a swap of positions, and we thought it was absolutely the right thing to go back to the situation, pre-existing at the pit-stop, and then let the guys race. This is what we did, and this is what we think is in compliance with our principles.”

However, Norris further muddied the ‘papaya rules’ waters by claiming that no such framework exists, at least not under that name.

“There are no papaya rules anymore,” he told DAZN, when asked about them following the Monza controversy. “We’ve never had them.”

Pressed on whether a document of its kind exists with another name, Norris added: “Yes. It’s not even a page long, actually. The important thing is it says: Fair.

“And this covers many things, fairness for me and for Oscar.

“I don’t choose that these things happen. We don’t care what’s happened in the past, but we do what we think is right for us.”

More on McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ drama from PlanetF1.com

👉 McLaren threw ‘papaya rules’ to the wind in Italian Grand Prix team orders call

👉 Why Brundle and Bernie are split over McLaren’s Monza team orders call

While the reception for Norris was not a universally warm one, Verstappen did prove a popular figure with the tifosi following his sublime race weekend performance.

“But chanting for Max, I think, is totally understandable,” Herbert added.

“I think there’s a hell of a lot of respect for what Max does in the cockpit. Everybody can get wowed about it. I get wowed about it when we see those laps that he does.

“Would the tifosi love to have Max in a Ferrari?  I’m sure they and a lot of us would believe he’d probably make that difference.”

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