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In the Driver’s Seat
‘Papaya rules’ still in force with McLaren drivers free to race
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McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris banged wheels at Turn 3 in the first lap of the Singapore Grand Prix on Oct 5.
PHOTO: REUTERS
So, with third and fourth places in a race in which nobody could really challenge George Russell and his runaway Mercedes, and Max Verstappen kept hold of second place despite the return of Red Bull’s gear-shift problems and less-than-perfect race set-up, McLaren duly clinched their second consecutive world championship for constructors under the lights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Oct 5.
The famed team – Formula One’s second oldest – had not achieved that feat since 1991, with Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger.


