Max Verstappen F1 News: Red Bull star SLAMS McLaren after controversial Lando Norris decision

Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Mexico, Mexican Grand Prix, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News

Max Verstappen SLAMS McLaren after controversial Lando Norris decision

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were involved in a 2024 championship battle

By Sam Cook.

Tuesday 18 February 2025 17:00

Max Verstappen has slammed McLaren and their 'papaya rules' radio calls during his championship battle with Lando Norris.

Verstappen won his fourth consecutive championship in 2024, beating Norris by a comfortable margin in the end.

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However, his fourth title was arguably his hardest-earned yet, with Red Bull suffering a dramatic drop-off in performance which left the Dutchman scrambling for top-five finishes.

Verstappen suffered a 10-race winless streak, which allowed Lando Norris and McLaren back into the championship fight.

Max Verstappen is now a four-time world champion

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri form a formidable driver pairing

Max Verstappen slams McLaren

The teamwork between the two McLaren drivers was crucial for their success in the teams' standings but may have hampered Norris' chances of overturning the huge deficit he had to Verstappen in the drivers' championship.

At the Hungarian Grand Prix, for example, Norris was implored by his team to give up a certain race victory to Piastri, after the team had undercut Piastri with Norris earlier in the race, with Norris eventually obliging.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella later implemented a 'papaya rules' verdict, which allowed Norris and Piastri to race each other, but only in a respectful and clean manner, in order to try and protect the team's constructors' challenge.

McLaren implemented 'papaya rules' in 2024

Now, Verstappen, who has not faced a championship challenge from a team-mate in his career, has said that he would tell his race engineer to 'shut up' if they implemented such a strategy at Red Bull.

The four-time world champion has been vocal about the way Piastri was treated in 2024, and is expecting a championship challenge from both McLaren drivers in 2025.

"This is another nonsense quote," Verstappen said in an interview with Viaplay.

"'Papaya rules', that's totally useless to me. If I heard that from an engineer I'd tell him to just shut up immediately.

"Yeah, exactly, what kind of nonsense is this? 'You're allowed to race' is fine. You know they should've solved this in a way easier and better way as a team."

Max Verstappen McLaren Lando Norris F1 Oscar Piastri