Red Bull reported to FIA that
McLaren might potentially have found a way to gain more performance by injecting liquid into their tires.
McLaren and Red Bull
rivalry has been growing steadily throughout the 2024 season. While it seems that Red Bull will
not be able to
win the
Constructors' Championship anymore, the team is very much still in the fight for the Drivers' with
Max Verstappen in the first place.
The fight is not only taking place on the track but also off track, where the F1 teams try to come up with the most clever solutions to add performance to their car.
As is the case in F1, these solutions are quite often on the edge of regulations. McLaren and Red Bull already accused each other of using illegal solutions this season.
While Red Bull didn't like
McLaren's "mini DRS," the Papaya team suspected the team from Milton Keynes might have been using a system inside the car to
play with their ride height in the Parc Ferme (which is forbidden).
Most recently, Red Bull suspects, according to
Motorsport.com, that multiple Championship rivals, including McLaren, might be somehow
injecting their tires with unspecified liquid, which could help limit thermal degradation and ultimately improve performance.
Motorsport.com also reports these suspicions arose after the
Singapore Grand Prix when
"rims of teams were spotted with liquid inside them – something that is unusual."FIA has been informed about the matter and has already been in talks with Pirelli (F1's exclusive tire producer) and all the teams.
The organization has also already started focusing on monitoring whether any liquids were leaking during the removal of the tires from the rims in Sao Paulo.
While FIA hasn't officially addressed this matter for the media, they have noted in their procedures that
all tires were checked following the Sprint race at
Interlagos Circuit.