McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has welcomed Red Bull to protest the MCL39, though he wants it to come at a potential price.

Brown’s comments come amid an alleged belief from Red Bull that rivals McLaren are using illegal tricks to cool their tyres, something which Brown made a cheeky nod to already at the Miami Grand Prix as he got creative with his water bottle.

McLaren incite Red Bull FIA protest: Will Red Bull act?

Red Bull had been the dominant force of Formula 1’s ground effect era, but McLaren emerged last season to end the Red Bull reign, securing the 2024 Constructors’ Championship – their first teams’ title since 1998 – while Lando Norris applied pressure on Max Verstappen who stood firm to win a fourth straight Drivers’ Championship.

And in the latter stages of the campaign, word emerged that Red Bull reportedly suspected McLaren to be among the teams putting a small amount of water into their tyres for cooling, which carries performance benefits.

Governing body the FIA and F1 tyre supplier Pirelli found no evidence of such an act, but according to Auto Motor und Sport, that has not quelled Red Bull suspicions, with tyre management a key strength of McLaren’s MCL39 challenger, as the team sit atop both F1 2025 championships.

AMuS claim Red Bull had even rolled out thermal imaging cameras to monitor the MCL39 as Norris and Oscar Piastri come in for pit stops, these cameras focusing on the tyre cooling ducts with Red Bull allegedly seeing ‘many blue areas around the brake vents on the McLaren tyres’, an anomaly compared to rival cars.

Brown has now moved to speak out, challenging Red Bull to put their money where their mouth is if they are convinced that the MCL39 is illegal, as he proposed a price that a team should need to risk paying if they go to the FIA.

The American already made an amusing reference to this saga at the Miami Grand Prix, after being seen during FP1 drinking from a bottle labelled ‘tire water’.

“It needs to be meaningful. In terms of ‘I’m choosing to spend money on [a protest] rather than my own racing car,’” Brown is quoted by The Telegraph as he suggested a fee be established for lodging a complaint with the FIA.

“We’re all right at the limit of the budget cap. I know how much we will not waste a dollar on anything which we don’t think brings performance.

“So it’s probably £25,000. Would I spend £25,000 on a distraction tactic or develop my race car? I’d spend £25,000 on my race car all day long. So it doesn’t need to be hundreds of thousands, but it needs to be meaningful enough that you’re taking away performance you could be spending on your car.

Key F1 2025 stats

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

“Teams have historically made allegations at other teams. Most recently, one team focuses on that strategy more than others. And I think there is a proper way to protest a team at the end of a race, and you have to make it formal, disclose where it comes from, you have to put some money down…. and that should come against your cost cap if it turns out you are wrong.

“I think that would significantly stop the bogus allegations which come from some teams in the sport.”

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