FIA ‘already investigating’ McLaren after new Red Bull cheating accusations at Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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McLaren and Red Bull have emerged as Formula 1’s newest rivals this year. The Woking outfit look set to dethrone Christian Horner’s squad as constructors’ champions.

Of course, they’ve been adversaries before. But not since 2012 have the two teams have been consistent frontrunners, with McLaren fading into obscurity for much of the decade.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen have been involved in multiple controversial incidents on track. In Mexico City last weekend, Verstappen picked up 20 seconds worth’ of penalties for his tactics against Norris.

But, as is often the case in F1, where engineers push the boundaries of the regulations, they’ve also fought off-track. Illegality accusations have been fired back and forth.

First, Red Bull complained three times about McLaren’s low-downforce rear wing. Oscar Piastri used the design to win the Azerbaijan GP, but the team agreed to modify it after a dialogue with the FIA.

Then the focus switched to Red Bull’s front-bib device. Zak Brown was concerned that they were raising the ride height of their car in Parc Ferme conditions, which is forbidden.

The FIA was satisfied that there was no wrongdoing. But now another F1 technical scandal is emerging.

Red Bull believe McLaren are injecting water into their tyres

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull have reported McLaren, as well as other teams, to the FIA. They suspect that they are injecting water into their tyres through the valves.

This has the effect of keeping the tyres cool over long runs. Maintaining the optimum temperature in the rubber is vital to overall performance in F1, perhaps more so than ever.

Red Bull once tried this ‘trick’ themselves before it was ruled illegal. Now they suspect that some of their former employees have raised the idea at rival teams.

It should be stressed that Pirelli haven’t noticed anything suspicious. The expectation for the moment is that Red Bull’s allegations won’t amount to anything.

F1 teams slammed for ‘disrespectful’ comments about McLaren in pile-on

McLaren’s rise has been remarkably rapid. They were among the slowest teams on the grid at the start of 2023 but a transformative mid-season upgrade propelled them into the ‘best of the rest’ battle behind Red Bull, who were enjoying a run of historic dominance.

This year, they have completely and utterly out-developed Verstappen’s team. There’s now a 63-point gap between the two, with Ferrari sat between.

One journalist previously said McLaren’s rivals had been ‘disrespectful’. He insists that they became F1’s pace-setters on merit, which should be recognised.