Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko sparked controversy again with his comments about McLaren, suggesting that Australian Oscar Piastri was the team's "fastest driver" at the Japanese Grand Prix. He suggested that McLaren should have considered swapping places between him and teammate Lando Norris.
Piastri finished behind Norris despite a strong performance and finishing just 0.044 seconds behind pole position in qualifying, despite a mistake on the final lap of Q3. Marko sarcastically remarked, "Maybe this is a new version of the papaya rule!" referring to McLaren's refusal to prioritize Piastri.
This season has shown a clear improvement in Piastri's performance compared to last year, as he has become more competitive in race pace and qualifying, which suggests an internal conflict between him and Norris.