What Red Bull ‘spotted’ in the Formula 1 paddock before reporting McLaren to the FIA

Follow us on Google Discover

Red Bull and McLaren have been battling off the track as well as on it in recent times. Technical disputes between leading F1 teams have always been, and will always be, a feature of the sport.

McLaren’s rise has been remarkable. When Red Bull were dominating F1 races at the start of 2023, they were languishing in the lower midfield.

The Woking outfit worked their way up into the ‘best of the rest’ pack, but there was still a chasm between them and Red Bull at the end of the year. Lando Norris finished nearly 25 seconds behind Max Verstappen at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

There was more of the same in the early part of 2024 before McLaren’s Miami upgrade transformed the competitive landscape in F1. Red Bull were no longer dominant, and they went into a developmental tailspin as they tried to extract more pace from what looked like a near-perfect concept.

Six months later, McLaren are top of the championship, 49 points ahead of Red Bull. Ferrari, having also leapfrogged the title holders, sit in between.

Red Bull don’t feel that McLaren have made it to the top by entirely fair means. They led the protests against their Baku rear wing – Oscar Piastri used the now-modified design to win the race – and fresh complaints emerged in Brazil.

Singapore wheel marks alerted Red Bull to alleged McLaren tyre trick

Red Bull reported McLaren to the FIA, in addition to other teams, because they suspected that they were injecting water into their tyres. This would theoretically help with thermal regulation, but it’s forbidden under the regulations.

Neither Pirelli nor the FIA have any reason to suspect wrongdoing, even though alleged evidence was ‘spotted’ at the Singapore GP in September. That’s according to Motorsport.com.

When the tyres were stripped at Pirelli’s Marina Bay base, water and watermarks could be seen inside some wheel rims. This prompted further investigation.

It looks highly unlikely that anything will come of it. But it’s clear that Red Bull are exploring every possible avenue to slow McLaren and indeed their other accused competitors down.

Christian Horner’s two-word response after accusing McLaren of breaking F1 rules

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner inevitably faced questions on the issue after Sunday’s race in Brazil. But it seemed as if he didn’t want to take any attention from Verstappen’s historic victory.

Horner simply said ‘no comment’ when the matter was raised. His team were back on the offensive after facing allegations of their own in the United States.

There, Red Bull had to demonstrate that they weren’t using an unlawful device to change the ride height of their car from within the cockpit. This would allow them to run the car lower in qualifying, generating a performance advantage.

Zak Brown said Red Bull’s statement didn’t ‘stack up’, but the FIA quickly cooled the brewing scandal. Again, their inspections didn’t uncover any breaches of the regulations.