Red Bull are finally starting to realise that they made a big mistake when investigating McLaren’s F1 car

Red Bull have done all they can to try and slow McLaren down this season. But it hasn’t worked.

Last time out in Spain, Oscar Piastri led home a third one-two of the season for the reigning champions. They now have a 197-point lead over nearest challengers Ferrari in the constructors’, and a 218-point advantage over Red Bull.

Helmut Marko has already written off the constructors’ championship for Red Bull, with Yuki Tsunoda struggling in the second seat. But Max Verstappen’s drivers’ title prospects are also in danger after he slipped 49 points back from Piastri.

Red Bull have long complained about McLaren’s front wing, specifically how much it flexes on track. This may have contributed to the FIA introducing stricter load tests in Spain.

However, Guenther Steiner says Red Bull accidentally made McLaren faster on the evidence of Barcelona. Verstappen was more than three-tenths off Piastri’s pole time last weekend.

Red Bull have also investigated McLaren’s tyre cooling, even pointing a thermal imaging camera at the rear of the MCL39 during pit stops. They complained to the FIA, but the governing body confirmed there were no unlawful tricks at play.

Red Bull are realising that they should have focused on themselves – not McLaren

According to a report from AutoRacer, Red Bull are now ‘very focused’ on introducing a wheel corner update that will allow them to emulate McLaren. The main benefit will be improved tyre management, both over a qualifying lap and a race distance.

‘A source close to Christian Horner’s team’ attributes the significant gap in Spain to an ‘RB21 that underperformed compared to our expectations’, rather than progress from McLaren. It sounds as if the team are now focusing on themselves.

After the FIA ruled McLaren’s car fully legal, this is their only recourse. Every F1 team monitors their rivals, but the Bulls may now be realising that introspection is the best way forward after a prolonged regulatory campaign that delivered few results.

In a recent interview, Verstappen said Red Bull wanted to ‘understand’ McLaren’s methods. The emphasis has seemingly shifted towards copying the pacesetters rather than scrutinising them.

Christian Horner now looks silly after deliberate media leak to hurt McLaren

There were a series of technical directives issued to teams before Verstappen’s victory at the Emilia Romagna GP last month. It was briefly suspected that these had hurt McLaren.

Christian Horner deliberately leaked the FIA communication to the media, according to one report, to fuel this narrative. But it almost immediately crumbled.

Lando Norris won the Monaco GP as Verstappen missed out on the podium, and the Dutchman lost even more ground in Spain, where Red Bull expected to be stronger.

McLaren survived an enforced change to brake materials, which rather went under the radar amid the focus on front wings. Zak Brown’s team are looking fairly bulletproof right now, but there are still 15 races remaining.