Max Verstappen hints at what Red Bull are now doing behind the scenes after FIA cleared McLaren brakes

Red Bull have queried the legality of McLaren’s last two Formula 1 cars. But they’ve had limited success with their reports to the FIA.

Last year, McLaren agreed to modify their rear wing after a dialogue with the sport’s governing body. Red Bull led the complaints after footage appeared to show the Woking outfit using a ‘mini DRS’ trick.

At the end of the year, Red Bull started to suspect that McLaren were injecting water into their tyres to cool them down. They couldn’t prove their theory was correct.

But when Zak Brown appeared on the pit wall in Miami with a bottle marked ‘tyre water’, it suggested that the dispute had resurfaced. Now, Red Bull had pointed thermal imaging cameras at the McLaren and noticed cool spots on their rear brakes.

To try and resolve the matter one way or the other, the FIA carried out a thorough investigation of Oscar Piastri’s race-winning car after the Miami GP. In a blow to Christian Horner and co., they found it to be totally compliant with the regulations.

Red Bull want to emulate McLaren technique after FIA declares car legal

With no prospect of McLaren facing sanctions for their tyre-cooling methods or having to change their car, Red Bull are placing even more stock in the upcoming front-wing clampdown. At the Spanish GP (30 May – 1 June), the FIA will impose ‘stricter controls’ on flexibility.

McLaren are thought to be benefitting most from the current leniency. But according to Motorsport Netherlands journalist Ronald Vording, Max Verstappen doesn’t believe the rule change will wipe out the gap.

The world champion estimates that McLaren are currently around eight-tenths quicker than Red Bull on a Sunday. He hinted that his team are still trying to ‘understand’ how McLaren are keeping their tyres in the optimal range.

Red Bull want to ‘master’ the technique themselves, aware that it could be beneficial long-term. It’s often the way in F1 that teams will start copying rivals’ solutions once they are deemed legal.

“There are two different things at play,” Vording explained. “The first one is how exactly they keep those tyres cool. That’s a huge factor in terms of race pace. The second is, of course, flexy wings. There will be an intervention, as we know, in Barcelona, with stricter controls.

“But Max is of the opinion that ‘if we are eight-tenths short, the flexy wings intervention in Barcelona will not make an eight-tenth difference. Red Bull don’t count their chickens before they hatch.

“The difference in race pace and how they cool their tyres remains a very big theme. Max said today, ‘Yeah, we still don’t quite understand that’. That remains a very important topic for Red Bull to fully master, hopefully sooner or later.”

Red Bull’s Imola upgrade leaves F1 technical expert ‘a bit sad’

Red Bull will also hope to close the gap through upgrades. The challenge is that McLaren will also improve their car, and they have an excellent track record in this area.

A two-tenth gain for the Bulls will be meaningless if McLaren can match it. They need to progress at a faster rate if Verstappen is to have any hope of extending his title streak.

To that end, Red Bull lined up a ‘crucial’ upgrade at Imola. There are modifications to the bodywork to go along with recent changes to the floor.

However, former F1 designer Gary Anderson was left ‘a bit sad’ after seeing Red Bull’s updates. He thinks they speak to the limited scope for innovation at this late stage of the ground-effect ruleset.