F1 | “The Papaya Rules are for Verstappen”: Günther Steiner’s bold claim about McLaren and the title fight. Günther Steiner believes Max Verstappen is still in the F1 title fight.

Is Max Verstappen still in contention for the Formula 1 world championship? Former Haas team principal Günther Steiner has shared his view on the Dutch driver’s prospects after the Mexican Grand Prix.

Following the twentieth round of the F1 season at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Max Verstappen has further reduced the gap to the top of the drivers’ standings. The Red Bull driver now sits 36 points behind championship leader Lando Norris and 35 points behind Oscar Piastri, who lost the top spot to his McLaren teammate in Mexico.

With four Grands Prix and two Sprint races still to be held, could Max Verstappen realistically still fight for the world title? According to Günther Steiner, the answer is absolutely yes.

The world championship battle

Speaking on the latest episode of the The Red Flags podcast, Steiner discussed the intense fight for the championship and how Oscar Piastri’s recent performances have been slightly underwhelming compared to the beginning of the season. When asked directly if Max Verstappen was still in the title hunt, Steiner replied without hesitation: “Yes.”

The former Haas team principal elaborated further: “A few races ago, I was completely against the idea, but now I’m saying yes. His best ally for winning the championship is McLaren. The Papaya Rules are for Max [Verstappen].”

Steiner also pointed out that Oscar Piastri seems to be struggling lately, which has reopened the fight for the top spot in the drivers’ standings. “Piastri is struggling right now. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but from the outside, it looks like he doesn’t feel he has the team’s full support to win the world championship. You start losing a bit of motivation, doubts creep in, and you stop performing at your best.”

The ex-Haas boss highlighted how the situation has changed drastically since the start of the season and suggested that this could be affecting Piastri’s performance. “At the beginning of the season, he had no pressure because he was the number two driver in the team—not officially, but Lando [Norris] has been there longer, he’s older, and he’s more experienced. Piastri was winning races and putting himself in a position where everything was going well.”