McLaren under scrutiny as Red Bull allege trickery with water in tire: Report

Red Bull has accused several of its competitors, including McLaren and Ferrari, of playing tricks with the tires under Parc Ferme rules. The Austrian team has slipped behind its two direct rivals this season in performance and race pace since the resumption after the summer break.

The reigning world champion team has not won a race this season since late June when Max Verstappen secured a hard-fought win beating out Lando Norris. Since the summer break, Ferrari and McLaren have shared the wins and overtaken the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

As per a report in The Race, Red Bull has claimed that McLaren and Ferrari have been adding water or another liquid to the tires to keep them cool and help with tire degradation during races. They believe a small amount, such as 50g, of fluid was being transferred to the rims to help them cool.

When asked for a comment, Pirelli's head Mario Isola responded that the tire manufacturer had not noticed anything suspicious in the data. He said,

“I cannot see anything strange from the data we have, so I don't have any evidence. It's up to the FIA now to decide what to do and to tell us if we can support it because, at the end of the day, the only thing we can do is to support that.”

Neither McLaren nor Ferrari have issued an official comment on Red Bull's reported accusation.

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Red Bull team boss pleased by improved race pace in Brazil

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was buoyed by Max Verstappen's race pace during the 24-lap Sprint Race on Saturday as he was able to stay close to the Ferrari and McLaren ahead of him.

Speaking with Sky Sports after the Sprint, Horner reflected on Verstappen's P4 finish and said:

"We were quite surprised because the pace... McLaren always seems so good on their tires that they seem very strong in the races. But in that race, they looked the same as we did, from everything we could see with the tire. It was in exactly the same condition as Max's, and indeed, Max was able to stay in that slipstream for a very long period of time."

He further added:

"He [Verstappen] came back from that race pretty pumped up that if he'd have managed to pass Charles [Leclerc] earlier, he thinks he could have had a go at the McLarens. He was very motivated by that. I think the whole team was pleased to see that. There were a lot of positives to take out of that short sprint race."

Max Verstappen finished third at the flag in the Sprint race but was demoted to fourth after getting a 5-second penalty for a VSC infringement.