Helmut Marko sends thanks to McLaren as ‘papaya rules’ let Red Bull off the hook

Helmut Marko has all but thanked McLaren for their lack of Monza team orders

Helmut Marko thanked McLaren for not going down the team orders route at Monza as it has ensured the damage was limited for Red Bull at the Italian Grand Prix.

On a weekend where Red Bull struggled for pace, Lando Norris lost out on out-scoring Max Verstappen by an extra three points through McLaren’s refusal to issue team orders in his favour.

Helmut Marko ‘appreciates’ McLaren’s ‘sporting approach’

Red Bull had a troubled time at the Italian Grand Prix where Verstappen said after qualifying down in seventh place, almost seven tenths slower than polesitter and title rival Norris, that his RB20 was “not drivable”.

He reiterated that after the Grand Prix, telling the media including PlanetF1.com: “The car is undriveable. It’s a massive balance problem that we have. And of course, not only over one lap, but also in the race.”

But at the end of a race where it never once looked as if he could challenge for anything higher than the P6, Verstappen was handed two lifelines from other teams: Ferrari and McLaren.

Ferrari came from behind the McLarens to win the Grand Prix with a one-stop strategy for Charles Leclerc while McLaren, running second and third with Oscar Piastri ahead of Norris, opted not to issue team orders to gift the Briton second place.

That meant Norris, who bagged the fastest lap of the race point, scored 16 points on a day when it could’ve been 19.

Marko appreciated McLaren’s “sporting behaviour”.

More on the Italian GP and Red Bull’s woes

Italian GP conclusions: Time for Norris to toughen up and Verstappen to resist temptation

The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings after the Italian Grand Prix

“A disappointing result? No way,” Marko told De Telegraaf.

“We had seen this coming a bit and I want to congratulate Ferrari on the victory and thank McLaren for their sportsmanship. I appreciate that, and it makes our situation a bit better.”

He added to the German media:”You could see that on the first lap and that they did not change places later.

“In other words, our misperformance was not that noticeable. It could have been worse, but the gap is about the same as in Zandvoort.”

That’s the gap in the Drivers’ standings, which is 62 points, that Marko is referring to. In the Constructors’, Red Bull’s lead was slashed to eight points with McLaren’s double podium.

He added of McLaren’s decision not to swap the drivers around, which McLaren team boss Andrea Stella says they “didn’t consider”, “from our point of view, we welcome this sporting approach.”

As for Red Bull, Marko says they just didn’t have the pace at Monza to challenge, even if they’d opted for Ferrari’s race-winning one-stop strategy.

“In the race, neither the one-stop strategy nor the pace at the front was possible for us. We lacked speed,” he said.

“When Max pushed harder, the graining came up straight away. It’s damage limitation.”

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