Such is Red Bull’s alleged belief that McLaren have tricks to cool their tyres, it is being claimed the Milton Keynes squad is using ‘thermal imaging cameras to determine the temperature at the tyre cooling ducts during the pit stop’.

Last season, as the RB20 fell behind the McLaren MCL38 as the car to beat, Red Bull reportedly suspected McLaren were filling their tyres with water in order to better cool them.

‘Tire water’ in a McLaren drink’s bottle and…?

According to initial reports, concerns were raised at the 2024 Singapore when moisture was spotted inside the wheel rims after the tyres were stripped from the cars after the race.

However, Pirelli, Formula 1’s sole tyre supplier, told Motorsport.com that they had not noticed any abnormal behavior.

“I cannot see anything strange from the data we have,” Mario Isola, Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing, said. “I don’t have any evidence.”

“I am not aware of any issue,” he added.

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That, though, did little to calm the waters.

According to a new report on Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull’s suspensions remain given McLaren’s superior tyre wear that resulted in late-race charges in F1 2024 with the 2025 MCL39 also showing better tyre wear than rivals.

McLaren have won four to this year’s five Grands Prix, marching out to a 77-point lead in the Constructors’ Championship while they also hold down the 1-2 in the Drivers’ standings where Oscar Piastri is 10 points ahead of Lando Norris. Max Verstappen, P3, a further two points off the pace.

Red Bull reportedly want to know how McLaren are able to keep their Pirelli tyres in the ‘magic window sso reliably – no matter what the tarmac temperature, no matter what the track’.

According to AMuS, the team has turned to thermal imaging cameras to capture the temperature of the tyre cooling ducts on the MCL39 when the drivers come in for their pit stops with the focus primarily on the rear tyres as they generally overheat more quickly than the fronts.

The German publication claims Red Bull have noted ‘many blue areas around the brake vents on the McLaren tyres, while all the other cars showed a lot of orange and red’ with the team coming to the conclusion that it is ‘impossible’ to cool the tyres that well with just air alone.

But while neither Red Bull nor McLaren have commented on the latest tyre speculation, Zak Brown did level a cheeky dig during Friday’s running at the Miami Grand Prix as he sat on the pit box with a bottle of water with ‘tire water’ written on it.

Alerted to his rival’s antics, Red bull team boss Christian Horner quipped to Sky F1: “We’ll send him a Red Bull down if he needs some energising.”

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