McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown believes the politicking between F1 teams has gone too far and led to some “dishonest” behaviour.

Brown’s squad heads both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, having won the latter last year, but has found itself in the middle of continued speculation surrounding its rapid McLaren MCL39.

Zak Brown keen to penalise dishonesty with the FIA

McLaren has faced a barrage of accusations stemming back to last year as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri became an increasing threat on track.

Following Piastri’s win in Azerbaijan, McLaren made changes to its rear wing as the FIA clarified its position on what became known as mini-DRS.

Soon after came suggestions that the Woking squad was putting water in its tyres as a means to keep them cool. More recently have come suggestions of a trick brake cooling set-up that achieves the same effect.

McLaren has passed all scrutineering checks and rejects suggestions there is a silver bullet that explains its prodigious pace – though Brown told PlanetF1.com that he is happy for his rivals to chase ghosts.

However, there’s a figurative line in the sand which Brown is also wary of, and suggests may have already been crossed in terms of the off-track rivalry between teams.

“That’s where the sport is today, but I believe it’s gone too far,” the McLaren Racing CEO told PlanetF1.com when asked if the political battles were now simply part of the broader scrap for supremacy.

“I’ve spoken about this with the FIA. I think that some teams, one more than another, use bogus allegations as a disruption tactic, but I think it wastes a lot of the FIA’s time and resources, which is not where I think we as a sport should be asking the FIA to spend their time.”

As the sport’s regulator, it is the FIA that teams engage when they wish to raise concerns with rivals, a process that can take many forms; from official protests at an event, to essentially water cooler conversations.

One outcome from those interaction is the issuance of new Technical Directives, essentially addendums to the Technical Regulations which clarify a specific element of the rules.

Though not made publicly available, a number of TDs are typically in force at any given time.

At this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, another comes into play as the FIA introduces more stringent tests targeting flexible wings.

It follows a similar clarification earlier in the year, though that focused on rear wings while the new tests this weekend a centred on the other end of the car.

While it has never been found outside of the regulations, McLaren has long been linked to accused of exploiting flexible wings more than any other – the mini-DRS viewed as proof of as much.

The constant spotlight on the McLaren car, and the whispers that have accompanied it, have prompted Brown to propose a more robust process surrounding protests and allegations against rivals.

“If you want to make an allegation of another team, no problem,” Brown insisted.

“There’s a process; you put money down – it needs to be a chunky number in the sense, and it needs to be against your cost cap. Then, if you find that you found something, then you get your money back, no problem. If they didn’t find it or they find that you were frivolous in your allegations, you’ll lose your money and it goes against the cost cap.

“The minute teams have to go, ‘do I want to spend $25,000, $50,000 on something that is nothing more than a disruption tactic’… I’d rather spend that money on developing another front wing or rear wing, because it’s gone too far.

“I think people have been dishonest with the FIA. I think they’ve wasted the FIA’s time and resources.

“You shouldn’t be able to get away with being dishonest to the FIA or making allegations that have no basis or foundation. If you really believe a team is doing something [wrong], no problem.

“I’m not discouraging making allegations; [but] put your money where your mouth is.”

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Over the Miami Grand Prix, Brown drank from a water bottle on the pit wall with ‘tire water’ writ large on its side; a tongue-in-cheek response to the ongoing whispers surrounding his team.

That’s an element of the sport Brown suggests is now part and parcel of what has become an all-encompassing competition. In fact, the American suggests that off-track antagonism has become an element of the broader show.

“I think you’re always going to have that sport, and I think that’s okay,” Brown said.

“I don’t think you’re ever going to put the genie back in the bottle, but I think you do need to look at where things are excessive and unnecessary and at a level that shouldn’t be.

“You’re always going to have drivers, teams, competing for sponsors or psychological games on the field, where last year you’d have drivers going, ‘Hey, if I was Oscar, I wouldn’t do this or I would do that’.

“That’s all part of the game, no different than when two boxers get up on stage and they talk trash. It’s part of the sport.

“I don’t think we want to get rid of that. I think what we want to do is pull back where it’s gotten out of control.

“I don’t think you ever want to take emotion, passion, rivalries out of sport, but what you do have to do is look and figure out what’s over the line and what’s acceptable.”

Part of that is clamping down on the use of the FIA as an unwitting agent in battle, with the financial element Brown’s means of dissuading such behaviour.

But he’s also quick to point out that there is no deep-seated issue in the sport and that for the most part the off-track salvos are part of the game.

“There’s always been politics games in sport and I think that’s okay, I think it’s just gotten out of control in a couple areas with a couple people,” Brown said.

“I don’t think this is an endemic issue with the sport, but I think there’s a few people that take it beyond what I believe is an acceptable amount of politicking, so to speak.”

Read next: Explained: Why a ‘vigilant’ FIA will enforce different front wing rules from Spanish GP