McLaren's team orders aren't helping Piastri or Norris

Max Verstappen laughed at the latest implementation of McLaren's "Papaya Rules" during Sunday's Italian Grand Prix. He probably wasn't alone.

Oscar Piastri, the world championship leader, was asked to swap positions with teammate Lando Norris after the latter had a slow pit stop at Monza. Piastri argued slow pit stops are part of racing before rather cordially surrendering his position. While McLaren might view it as correcting an unintended punishment, the team introduced a dangerous and frankly unnecessary precedent that will surely cause headaches in the future.

Norris, Piastri, and team principal Andrea Stella mentioned fairness a lot in explaining the incident postrace. Fairness can be a slippery slope in that case.

By definition, Norris' mechanical failure during the Dutch GP surely could be considered unfair. Should Piastri have pulled over after his title rival was knocked out?

There's also Hungary earlier this summer, when Norris was given an alternate strategy after a bad start and ended up winning. According to the law of fairness, should he not have traded places with Piastri, who appeared on course for victory before his teammate's unorthodox gamble?

With only 31 points separating Piastri and Norris in the drivers' championship now, there could be massive implications from McLaren's decision. The six-point swing from Sunday's swap could be the difference when the dust settles, creating a potentially messy situation over the last eight races.

McLaren's problems didn't start Sunday though. That was clear when the team referenced the infamous Hungary 2024 team orders saga on the radio in a bid to assure Piastri of its consistent decision-making.

But Monza wasn't like Hungary. Not at all.

There were conditions in Monza. Norris was told to pit but asked about Piastri going first, though he wanted a promise that he wouldn't be undercut. Unlike Hungary, there was at least an element of choice present this time around.

The only similarities between Sunday and the 2024 race at the Hungaroring is that the McLaren drivers had to deal with the consequences of a mistake neither of them made. A team should protect its drivers. McLaren has done the opposite, putting its pilots in the line of fire whenever something goes wrong operationally. In addition to Hungary, think of the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, where a lack of clarity over the team's racing rules led to Piastri's bold overtake costing Norris the lead.

Sunday was another example of mismanagement. The narrative coming out of Monza should've been about a costly pit stop error. However, Norris is being scrutinized for the team acting in his favor, while Piastri is facing questions about whether any other world champions – such as Verstappen – would've obliged to such a craven request. Both are uncomfortable conversations that could have been easily avoided.

This simply isn't the way a team hurtling toward a drivers' championship should be acting, but part of the problem likely stems from inexperience. McLaren hasn't won a drivers' title since 2008. And it hasn't dealt with two of its pilots fighting over the sport's top prize since Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton's nasty feud left them both empty-handed in 2007.

McLaren's intentions are in the right place. It wants to do right by both drivers. But the team sometimes gives off the impression that it cares more about maintaining an image of inner-team harmony than confronting a harsh reality. Motorsports aren't fair, and they definitely aren't equal. That hasn't stopped McLaren from trying to balance the scales of justice, though it's hard to fathom it being sustainable.