McLaren at centre of Red Bull tyre trick accusation amid FIA investigation - report

Red Bull have accused McLaren of injecting water into its tires in order to help with cooling.

The 2024 Formula 1 title battle has taken a new turn this weekend in Brazil, with new rumors alleging that Red Bull suspect McLaren is engaging in illegal behavior in order to find pace.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull suspects that McLaren is filling its tires with water in order to better cool them — and that McLaren isn’t the only team engaging in this behavior.

McLaren and Red Bull Racing have been swapping allegations of cheating or exploiting loopholes all season long.

What started with Red Bull accusing McLaren of implementing an inappropriately flexible rear wing flap in Baku escalated into McLaren alleging that Red Bull was utilizing an illegal component designed to adjust the height of the underbody of its car.

The FIA asked McLaren — and a few other teams — to stop using its flexible wing and ultimately determined that Red Bull’s bib mechanism was legal.

Now, a new report from German publication Auto Motor und Sport states that Red Bull is alleging McLaren is manipulating the rules again — this time by adding a small amount of water into its tires in order to help with cooling.

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Per Auto Motor und Sport, McLaren is said to be benefitting from adding a small amount of water into the tires via the valves. This water is said to help cool the tires. The report also alleges that “several teams” have been said to be benefitting from this practice.

The report notes that the FIA is already investigating the allegations, and that Pirelli has not reported any irregularities.

Tire use in Formula 1 is highly regulated, and the report acknowledges that it would be very challenging for a team to add water to a tire without Pirelli’s knowledge.

Pirelli technicians mount and dismount tires for the teams, and teams are not allowed to manipulate the tires after they have been mounted. Further, Pirelli technicians and engineers are omnipresent forces in the paddock — so injecting water behind their backs would be quite challenging.

After the race, Pirelli also collects all tires and analyzes them. If it detected any remnants of fluid inside the tires after the race, that would be reported.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull itself is familiar with this tactic because it experimented with it in the past, prior to the FIA closing the loophole that could have allowed the addition of fluid to the tires.

This situation is still developing.

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