F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has suggested that a crucial McLaren contract clause could end up costing the team the driver's championship to Max Verstappen.
Verstappen's victory in Qatar saw him overtake Oscar Piastri in the F1 standings, with Lando Norris now just 12 points ahead heading to the final race of the season.
McLaren had the race in their hands through Piastri, but a costly strategy error handed the win to Dutchman after the papaya duo were the only cars not to pit under the early safety car.
Martin Brundle described the Australian as 'broken' following the race, and it isn't the first time Piastri will feel hard done by his own team this season.
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Piastri was also on the receiving end of one of the most controversial decisions in recent F1 history back in Monza, where he was forced to hand Norris second place due to a slow pitstop.
'Papaya rules
McLaren's 'papaya rules' strategy has been a major talking point over the last two seasons, with many pundits unconvinced it is an optimal strategy for the team.
'Contract clause' hands advantage to Verstappen in Abu Dhabi
Speaking in an exclusive interview with CoinPoker, Villeneuve questioned whether papaya rules will hand Verstappen a much needed advantage in Abu Dhabi.
"We keep talking about the Papaya rules, but we don't know what's in the drivers’ contracts," he said.
"And that's the crux of it. If in their contracts it has to be 100% balanced, well the team has to cope with that, because they signed the contract early on.
"I don't think they expected it to be in this position where they would have to stick to it until the last race in the Drivers’ championship.
According to reports, Piastri's contract does include a clause which states he cannot be named as a number two driver.
Villeneuve continued: "When you sign a contract, you can't imagine every scenario or outcome.
"You do what you think is best and at some point, one will be the clear leader, the other one won't be able to win the Championship, so it won't matter anymore. But that is not what happened and they’re stuck with it."
Villeneuve could be on to something, with McLaren boss Zak Brown previously claiming he would rather allow Verstappen to win the championship than choose between Norris and Piastri.
“We’ve got two drivers who want to win the world championship," Brown said last month.
He added: "I’d rather [say] ‘we did the best we can and our drivers tied on points and the other guy beat us by one’, than the alternative, which is telling one of our drivers right now, when they’re one point away from each other, ‘I know you have a dream to win the world championship, but we’ve flipped the coin and you don’t get to do it this year’."
Topics: Formula 1, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris
Tom Jenkins