The Formula 1 season is coming to a close with only four races left. The big award that is given at the end of the season is the Championship Leader, which is given to the driver with the most points gained throughout the season.
F1 is a motorsport that has 20 drivers spread across ten teams that try to build the best car
If a driver finishes in the top three, they get the most points. If they finish in the top ten, they still get some points. The rest of the ten drivers get no points added to their driver score.
The season leader who has the third most points is Max Verstappen. Verstappen snuck his way in with 341 points. Lando Norris is in the lead with 390 points, followed by Oscar Piastri with 366. The McLaren drivers Norris and Piastri have been battling out for the top spot.
With the championship gap being so small, drama shifts fans and even the team to show favoritism towards certain drivers. According to Formula1.com, the fanbase is now at 827 million, cementing its position as one of the fastest growing sports, with a year-on-year increase of 12%- and an increase of 63% compared to the year 2018.
The McLaren team has been using rules called Papaya Rules that allows both drivers to be “fair” on the track. This includes if one driver gets a bad pit stop (a slow time changing out tires or fixing the car) then the other driver needs to slow down and allow the teammate to pass.
Fans’ reaction to these rules showed some dissatisfaction because many thought the drivers should just battle it out on the track to see who deserves the award more. Many fans criticized McLaren for what happened in Singapore.
Singapore was a nightmare for Piastri fans because on the first turn on the track: his teammate almost sent him into the wall and the team didn’t do anything to make it “fair.” After this and a slow pit stop, Piastri showed how he felt on the radio stating, “That wasn’t very team like,” followed by “So, are we cool with Lando just bargaining me out of the way?” He then disconnected the radio when his team was congratulating him.
All of this mixed with the team McLaren leaving him out during their celebration of the Constructor Award they won that race (the award that is given to the team with the most combined points between team drivers) added to the ongoing drama.
After the Singapore race, McLaren fans are battling each other on how to feel about Norris and his actions. Many fans think Norris is just being a good driver that fights for what he wants, while others see it as not being a good teammate.
Norris won the Mexican Grand Prix this year by a wide shot but fans were not happy with him and booed him when he walked to his podium spot. Fans are now saying that booing Norris for being a good driver is not how real Formula 1 fans support this popular motorsport.
As the season is coming to an end with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the tension inside the McLaren team and its fanbase is turning this season into a civil war.
The Championship Award is a big accomplishment to earn as a driver, but the main question remains for McLaren’s drivers: what lines are they willing to cross to get it?
