“It helped us out today”: Christian Horner thankful for McLaren’s ‘papaya rules’ following Oscar Piastri-Lando Norris close battle at Monza

Christian Horner, principal of Red Bull Racing, feels McLaren’s rules of engagement of allowing their drivers to race each other have inadvertently helped Red Bull in the driver’s championship. Speaking to media, including Sportskeeda, after the Italian GP, the Briton felt that such a policy can often place a team in a challenging position.

During the race, McLaren made a surprising call where Oscar Piastri was instructed to race Lando Norris under the ‘papaya rules’. The rules essentially were a way of implementing the Woking team’s philosophy of letting their drivers race freely. However, the move proved detrimental as Norris, who was the closest title contender to Max Verstappen in the driver’s championship, was unable to maximize the weekend, with Piastri finishing ahead of him.

Horner was surprised that Red Bull’s rivals had not prioritized either driver for the driver’s championship, suggesting that the two McLaren drivers could have taken each other out. The duo came dangerously close to doing just that, banging wheels while battling each other on the opening laps of the race. Although Verstappen currently leads Norris by 60 points, a victory or second-place finish for the Briton could have significantly narrowed the gap for the reigning champions.

Asked if he was surprised McLaren implemented their ‘papaya rules’ during the race, Horner said,

“I don't know what the papaya rules are, but I'm sure, you know, they nearly took themselves out of the race you know,in the second chicane. So from the driver’s championship point of view, it helped us out today.”

When asked how Red Bull would have handled a similar situation to McLaren, Horner replied,

“It's always a difficult position as a team, but you know, it's inevitable at some point you've got to pick up, you know, put your best foot forward, and it's impossible, you know, to do that when you've got a situation, situation like that.”

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Christian Horner highlights Red Bull's challenge from McLaren

Christian Horner believes that McLaren has developed a car for 2024 that is similar to Red Bull’s previous design, which was known for its complexity. He suggested that the floor of the McLaren car might still have some issues that are affecting its balance. Horner believes that McLaren’s MCL38 concept is simpler and less complex than Red Bull’s RB19 from 2023.

The 50-year-old also spoke about Red Bull’s difficulties, attributing them to their outdated wind tunnel facility, which is not as advanced as their rivals. The limitations of using one of F1’s oldest wind tunnels have been evident in the correlation issues that Red Bull’s lead driver has been complaining about since the beginning of the season.

When asked if Red Bull had ruled out the possibility of the floor being a problem, Horner said,

“No, no. Not yet. I think you've got to look at all aspects of the car. You know, there's a balance issue with the car that isn't allowing the drivers to commit to corner entry, So as soon as you calm down the rear, you do that by compromising the front. So then you end up with understeer and then you kill your tire that way. So I think what we really need to do is get the map. If you look at the McLaren, it's very, it's almost looks like an evolution of last year's car. A much simpler car than ours. Perhaps we've gone a little too complex and perhaps we need a simpler car to do this.”

He was also asked if Red Bull is currently facing a development handicap.

“Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think that the wind tunnel has its limitations, which is why we've invested in a new tunnel. But you know it's what we've got we have to make use of it and I don't think I think it went on as perhaps a contributor, but it's not the it's not the reason behind where we are,” he said in response.

The recent race weekends in Zandvoort and Monza have served as a wake-up call for Red Bull, highlighting the narrowing championship gap with McLaren. In the Dutch GP, Norris's margin of 22.7 seconds over Verstappen was a stark reminder of the performance reversal from their dominance with the RB19 at the same circuit last year.

The tweaked Monza layout and intense heat further exposed Red Bull's balance issues, pushing them outside the top five in the results. The Milton Keynes team has been experimenting with different car specifications for both drivers, but none of these experiments have yielded conclusive results. In the driver's championship, their lead has gone down to 60 points, while in the constructors' championship, it's narrowed to eight points over McLaren and 39 points over Ferrari.