The battle for the 2024 Formula 1 title took a new turn this evening in Brazil, with fresh complaints that Red Bull suspects McLaren of engaging in illegal behavior in order to find race pace.
Red Bull believes that McLaren fills its tires with a certain amount of water in order to better cool them – and McLaren is not the only team to engage in this behavior according to Red Bull.
The FIA has confirmed that an investigation has been requested into the allegations and has initiated verification procedures.
McLaren and Red Bull Racing have traded allegations of cheating or exploitation throughout the season.
What started with Red Bull accusing McLaren of installing an inappropriate flexible rear wing flap in Baku escalated to McLaren alleging that Red Bull was using an illegal component designed to adjust the height of its car's underbody.
The FIA asked McLaren – and a few other teams – to stop using its flexible wing and ultimately determined that Red Bull's T-tray mechanism was legal.
Red Bull accuses McLaren of playing by the rules again, this time by adding a small amount of water to its tires to aid cooling.
McLaren would benefit from this addition in the tires via the valves as it would help cool the tires.
An initial report notes that the FIA is already investigating the allegations and that Pirelli has not reported any irregularities.
The use of tires in Formula 1 is highly regulated, and the report acknowledges that it would be very difficult for a team to add water to a tire without advice from Pirelli.
Pirelli technicians mount and dismount tires for teams, and teams are not allowed to handle tires after they have been mounted. Additionally, Pirelli technicians and engineers are omnipresent forces in the paddock — so throwing water behind their backs would be quite difficult.
After the race, Pirelli also collects all the tires and analyzes them. If any remaining fluid inside the tires is detected after the race, this will be reported.
Red Bull itself is familiar with this tactic as it has experimented with it in the past, before the FIA closed the loophole that could have allowed fluid to be added to the tyres.
