Peter Windsor believes ‘something weird’ has happened to Red Bull’s cars this season

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It was business as usual for Red Bull at the start of the 2024 Formula 1 season, but as things have progressed their healthy advantage was chipped away by rivals.

After kickstarting his campaign with three wins in the first four races, it was shaping up to be another dominant season for Max Verstappen.

But his win at Imola which was only a fraction ahead of Lando Norris started to show cracks, while a struggle to P6 in Monaco after a poor qualifying exacerbated a weakness in the RB20.

Wins at Canada and Spain reassured Red Bull they still had a healthy margin over their rivals, but a difficult run of races before the summer break raised suspicions over whether Red Bull was told to take something off their car by the FIA.

Peter Windsor suspected that Red Bull was running a ‘clever’ brake part that was outlawed before the race in Miami, which would explain Verstappen’s sudden discomfort behind the wheel of the RB20.

Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas later hit back by claiming people were looking for a ‘conspiracy’ that did not exist. Windsor has responded when speaking on the Cameron F1 podcast.

Peter Windsor responds to Red Bull mechanic after brake theory

There have been many theories about why Red Bull has now got the second quickest car to McLaren, with technical director Pierre Wache claiming three reasons why their upgrades have not worked as well as they hoped this season.

Windsor suspects the FIA forced Red Bull to remove a part from their car, which was why an update was made to the technical regulations before the summer break.

“Regarding the response from a Red Bull engineer, they are hardly likely to say ‘Yeah we’re in big trouble’ I mean, give me a break what are they going to say?” said Windsor.

“There are two things here: one is the distinct drop off in getting the car to work throughout all stages of the weekend, which Red Bull have always done very well over the last two years. Suddenly in Miami, it fell away. There was something weird that went on between China and Miami. It was also interesting that the FIA clarified the ruling around this whole asymmetric braking thing going into the summer break.

“The word on the street is that, yes, there was a valve being used within the regulations and that was actuated according to the inertia as the drivers went into the corner.”

Did Red Bull run an asymmetric braking system?

Before the summer break, the FIA made a small change to the wording of the F1 technical regulations which outlawed the use of an asymmetrical braking system on the cars.

Mid-season rule changes are not uncommon in F1, but the nature of this change prompted speculation that the FIA was responding to a potential mechanism present on one car or more.

Former F1 team boss Guenther Steiner believes such a mechanical part would be difficult to implement, and was likely being done as a response to a query for the FIA.

READ MORE: Everything we know about F1’s 2026 regulation changes so far from engines to tyres

It later emerged that the FIA made the change to supplement the original text, to tidy up the regulations for the changes coming in 2026. The teams wanted the governing body to provide more clarity, even though the original wording outlawed asymmetric braking.

Usually the FIA would issue a Technical Directive to all teams, which would alert them to something amiss rather than making a mid-season change. But it has not stopped speculation that Red Bull could have been running a part within the regulations, which was potentially helping them in the slow corners.