Marko teases McLaren's 'Papaya regulations'.

      "It appeared that Piastri was the quicker driver."

      Dr. Helmut Marko mocked McLaren’s so-called 'Papaya rules' after Max Verstappen surpassed the two faster orange cars at Suzuka over both Saturday and Sunday. McLaren is facing significant criticism following Red Bull’s Verstappen narrowing the championship gap to Lando Norris to just one point. One of the criticisms centers on the team’s risk-averse race strategy, while another points out that the Woking-based squad denied Oscar Piastri's request to advance ahead of Norris to challenge Verstappen. “I just expressed my feelings from inside the car,” Piastri remarked afterward, “and yes - that’s the way we want to race.”

      When asked about McLaren’s decision against an 'undercut' pit strategy, as well as bringing both Norris and Piastri into the pits on the same lap, Red Bull advisor Marko grinned: “The strategy they choose is their decision. It seemed like Piastri was the faster driver,” he continued. “The real question is whether he could have overtaken Max, as that’s a different narrative on this circuit. But perhaps this is a new iteration of the Papaya rules,” laughed Marko, 81.

      McLaren team principal Andrea Stella justified the choice to keep Piastri behind Norris. “Oscar was hardly faster," the Italian said. "So it wouldn’t have changed anything. Once the gap was within a second, the turbulence from the dirty air was too significant. The same situation would have applied to Oscar.”

      Marko, however, stated that Red Bull would have prioritized aiming for the win. “We would have switched,” the Austrian remarked. “But McLaren follows the Papaya rules, and those are their own guidelines.” While Christian Horner acknowledges that the performance issues with Verstappen's teammates complicate winning the constructors’ championship, the Red Bull team principal maintains that the main focus is on securing the drivers’ title. “I think the challenge for McLaren is that they’ve made their choice by allowing the two drivers to compete against one another,” he noted. “So that’s the compromise that decision inherently brings.”

      Horner also believes McLaren should have taken a more aggressive approach with their pit strategy by attempting the undercut. “It was relatively effective here,” he remarked. “I mean, they could have and should have done it. I’m confident we would have faced some losses there.”