Christian Horner may have leaked ‘suspicious’ information after Imola as Red Bull try to ‘destabilise’ McLaren

Red Bull struck back in their battle with McLaren at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last weekend. Max Verstappen scored his second victory of the season in comfortable fashion.

It was Oscar Piastri who took pole position, but Verstappen executed one of the moves of the season to swoop around the outside into turn one. From there, the Dutchman built up a commanding lead.

He was able to extend his first stint long enough to benefit from the virtual safety car (triggered by Oliver Bearman’s retirement). And unlike Piastri, he had a suitable tyre available to pit for fresh rubber when Kimi Antonelli’s DNF caused a full-course caution.

Verstappen’s eventual winning margin was just over six seconds, but it could have been a lot more had the race not been interrupted. This was arguably the first race all year where Red Bull were legitimately faster than McLaren.

While the gap is still 148 points in the constructors’, Verstappen cut Piastri’s lead to 22 points in the drivers’. Significantly, Red Bull introduced upgrades at Imola to complete a run of developments, and they appeared to deliver instant results.

Red Bull may have leaked story about FIA technical directives after Imola

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull and Christian Horner are deliberately ‘playing political games’ in an attempt to ‘destabilise’ McLaren. The Milton Keynes outfit have consistently pushed the FIA to investigate the Woking outfit.

This began last year with complaints over their front and rear wings, while the dispute over alleged tyre-cooling tricks has persisted into the start of 2025. Piastri’s car underwent a thorough examination after Miami and was found to be in full compliance with the rules.

But their efforts to ‘artificially’ slow McLaren down continue. AMuS believe that Red Bull leaked a story about two new FIA technical directives after Imola to create the impression they had slowed the Woking outfit down.

The first of those directives concerned skid block wear, but the second, more importantly, related to tyre cooling. Horner expressed surprise in the media about McLaren’s underwhelming performance, but Andrea Stella’s outfit felt the track layout simply didn’t suit them.

Do these comments prove Christian Horner was playing media games with McLaren?

Speaking on Friday, Horner said Red Bull would take a podium at the Emilia Romagna GP. This statement raised eyebrows given the team’s ambitions this season.

But perhaps it was an effort to pile more pressure on McLaren. Red Bull are trying to paint themselves as the underdogs, as if it would be a catastrophic failure for Piastri and Lando Norris not to deliver the title.

More overtly, Horner told outlets including Autosport that McLaren’s drivers would have to prioritise ‘self-interest’ at some point. The 2005 entrants have already thrown all their weight behind Verstappen.

Verstappen wants Red Bull to study McLaren and work out why they’re so fast. Horner still hopes that the FIA’s clampdown on front-wing flexibility in Spain hurts them.