Christian Horner stunned by what he saw McLaren do at Silverstone as Red Bull’s tyre-cooling theories busted

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McLaren were a cut above the rest of the field in Silverstone when they finished over 30 seconds ahead of third-placed finisher Nico Hulkenberg.

Oscar Piastri overtook Max Verstappen for the lead of the race in the opening stages, but was later handed a 10-second time penalty for a Safety Car infringement, which enabled Lando Norris to win his home race.

Verstappen was in second for most of the race before he spun during the second restart, eventually finishing in fifth place, having struggled with tyre temperatures.

While everyone else also struggled with maintaining temperatures, the McLarens were the only ones who didn’t have the problem, which stunned Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, according to journalist Michael Schmidt, when speaking on the Formel Schmidt podcast.

Christian Horner stunned by McLaren’s being able to keep tyres cool in British GP

McLaren was untouchable throughout the British Grand Prix, as the drivers had to battle with the wet-to-dry track.

Red Bull has long suspected that McLaren was doing some trickery with their tyres, after they reportedly ‘bombarded the FIA’ with questions over the legality of their car earlier in the season. The FIA subsequently checked the front axle of Piastri’s car after the race in Miami, and they deemed it to be legal.

However, Schmidt says Horner was stunned by how well the McLarens could manage their tyres better than anyone else at Silverstone.

“It can do anything. It’s the perfect car and of course it has the best control over its tyres. It is undoubtedly the best, but this is the third time it has run on Intermediate tyres, once at Melbourne and again in Miami,” said Schmidt.

“There was a short burst of rain [at Silverstone], but whenever you drive on Intermediates, the track dries out, the tyres get hot very quickly, and the laps get slower.

“But the McLarens, they keep their tyres cool. Nobody knows what they do. Christian Horner was stunned again, he says ‘If you can keep up with the McLaren’s, you’re happy. Then, after three or four laps, they disappear and you can’t do anything about it.”

McLaren title battle continues to heat up after British GP controversy

The title battle between the McLaren drivers has continued to heat up, with Norris now closing to within eight points of Piastri.

Martin Brundle thinks McLaren should expect ‘fireworks’ in the second half of 2025, after seeing Piastri angry with his penalty at Silverstone.

Former Piastri teammate, Frederick Vesti has also warned Norris that he could see the Australian employ one trait that made him ‘scary’ to go up against in the same team.

Verstappen is now a distant third in the Drivers’ Championship, as talk gets more frequent over a potential switch to Mercedes for the 2026 season.