Fresh Formula 1 controversy: teams cooling tyres with water?! | GRANDPRIX247

A report by Motorsport.com claimed the FIA, F1’s governing body, are investigating suspicions that some teams have found a way to cool their tyres from the inside by water.

It appears that Red Bull are concerned that some teams, including their championship rivals McLaren, have found a way to inject water or an “unspecified fluid” into the tyres to help keep them cool during races.

This would control the thermal degradation of the tyres and improve the race pace, an area in which Red Bull have been struggling recently.

The report revealed that the suspicions started back at the Singapore Grand Prix when some teams’ rims have been spotted with water in them, which was unusual as teams usually endeavor to remove moisture from the tyres to ensure peak tyre pressure is achieved.

The FIA’s head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis is reportedly addressing the matter within the paddock in Sao Paulo and has been personally supervising the removal of tyres from rims after the Sprint race.

The report claimed that “adding moisture to tyres has been outlawed for many years through a technical directive that the FIA”.

Red Bull, who have raised this matter, have been puzzled by their loss of advantage in race pace, particularly since the Miami Grand Prix which Lando Norris won after McLaren brought a major upgrade.

Max Verstappen commented: “Some teams made huge steps on race pace, which is quite odd. Because if you look at our car compared to last year, we made steps in qualifying and in the race.

“The others also make a decent step in qualifying pace, but then they make a much, much bigger step in race pace. And that’s something that’s hard for us to understand,” he added.

His boss Christian Horner cannot believe the sway in form seen in 2024, he said: “If one was a sceptic and somewhat paranoid, you say something’s changed.

“Because even when we’ve gone back to the configuration of the car that, for example, we had in China, we still have some of the same issues that we have experienced.

“But, in saying that, it changed for everybody, potentially. But I’ve never in a season seen a swing so exaggerated. Obviously we have to get on top of that. We have to understand it,” Horner concluded.