Andrea Stella rarely sounds angry in public. The McLaren team principal did after Saturday’s sprint race in Singapore.

“Seeing two McLarens collide like that is simply unacceptable,” Stella told reporters. “It’s something we’ll be discussing with our drivers again. We’ll do that behind closed doors. We’ll have to reiterate to them that the team’s interests far outweigh those of any individual.”

The collision happened on the final lap at Turn 5 of the Singapore sprint on 10 October. Running fourth and fifth and closing on Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, Norris dived down the inside of his teammate. The two cars touched. Piastri was pitched into the wall and retired; Norris limped home in eighth to salvage a single point. The stewards concluded that “both drivers had contributed to the incident and that neither driver was wholly or predominantly to blame,” and took no further action.

What the papaya rules actually say

McLaren’s internal code of on-track engagement, dubbed the papaya rules by Stella in reference to the color of the cars, lets Norris and Piastri race each other hard. The one line neither driver may cross is contact. In the BBC Q&A, Andrew Benson framed the Singapore sprint as the clearest stress test the framework has faced: a move that was legal under FIA driving standards, but one that offered no collective upside and risked everything the team had on the table.

Read also: Lamine Yamal suffers Ballon d’Or blow as French vote delivers surprise verdict

‘No room for ego’

Stella returned to one point repeatedly, speaking with his usual measured tone but leaving no doubt about his position.

“There must be no room for ego,” he said. “No individual is bigger than the team. That certainly needs to be emphasised once again.”

Speaking to the BBC, Stella described the reflection ahead as one all parties would have to make around “leading together the team, embracing constantly from inside the cockpit the interest of the team as something that is superior to any particular, singular, individual interest.”

Norris’s own reading shifted inside 24 hours. Immediately after the sprint he insisted he had been entitled to the move, telling the stewards’ interview that “the gap closed bit more than I would have liked” but that he had “the right to do that.” By Sunday he had changed tack in a BBC interview: “I can’t attempt what I did. I should never have attempted it in the first place, even if the move was on.”

Read also: “Not for Me”: Michael Carrick’s private admission revealed as Man Utd pressure mounts

Piastri, for his part, told the stewards he had not seen Norris at the apex and that his teammate was “a reasonable way behind” when he last checked his mirrors.

The standings make the mistake sting

Max Verstappen won Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix for Red Bull, with Norris fourth and Piastri fifth. The championship now has Andrea Kimi Antonelli 102 points clear at the top on 340, with only 150 available across the final six rounds. George Russell is second on 238, Lewis Hamilton third on 229, and Verstappen fourth on 221. Norris sits sixth on 201, Piastri seventh on 138.

McLaren’s next outing is the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas on 23-25 October, where Stella’s reminder gets its first on-track test.

Read also: “We Are Mentally Strong”: Haaland Fires Defiant Warning as Man City Silence Anfield Amid FFP Storm