Red Bull called out over ‘crazy’ McLaren accusation that was ‘just wrong’

Gary Anderson has told Red Bull to “look at yourself” after McLaren’s MCL39’s innovative solutions led to accusations that the Woking team was injecting water into the tyres to cool them.

As McLaren emerged as a threat last season, Red Bull initially complained to the FIA that the Woking team was leaving extra holes open in the brake drums of the MCL38 to aid in cooling before later accusing the team of putting water in the tyres.

Red Bull accusations: Are they crazy? It’s just wrong?

Red Bull suspected that McLaren were injecting water into the tyres to help keep the Pirelli compounds cool and unlock more performance. According to reports, Red Bull saw water marks on the McLaren rims in Singapore, which had raised their suspicions.

McLaren dismissed the accusations, while Pirelli stated there was no evidence of such practices taking place.

That was followed by further reports that Red Bull were using thermal imaging to record the MCL39 and determine the temperature at the tyre cooling ducts, and concluded that it was not only because of air cooling.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown labelled the allegations “bogus”, adding of his ‘tyre water’ bottle jab towards Red Bull: “[The water bottle] was poking fun at a serious issue, which is teams have historically made allegations of other teams. Most recently, one team focuses on that strategy more than others.”

However, team principal Andrea Stella found an upside to McLaren’s rivals’ fixation with the MCL F1 cars.

“For us, it’s good news when our rivals get their focus – rather than on themselves – onto some of the aspects that allegedly are present in our car, and that effectively are not even present,” Stella told the media, including PlanetF1.com, at Imola.

“I hope that in the future there will be more of these kinds of sagas because it means that our rivals keep focusing on the wrong things, and this is, for us, just good news. It’s just helping our quest.”

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Former F1 designer Anderson reckons Red Bull have been wasting effort trying to find a hidden trick behind McLaren’s superior brake cooling when it’s simply a case of they’ve been work on it for years.

In early 2022, McLaren had a major brake issue that first appeared in pre-season testing and limited the team to just 200 laps. That put them on the back foot in the early race weekends before McLaren finally found a solution.

A solution that Anderson says means they have a better understanding than some of the other teams.

“McLaren, a few years ago, had their brake problem at the first race of the season in Bahrain, where they could hardly do a lap,” Anderson said on The Race’s F1 Tech Show.

“And because of that, they had to step back a bit and, as a group, think about all this stuff, why did that happen, because that shouldn’t have happened.

“And they’ve probably, as I say, got better kit now than anybody in looking at that, be it simulation or rigs.

“But, that’s helped them to keep the tyres more consistent as well.

“So longer term, they’ve taken the lessons, they’ve looked at what was wrong, looked in depth at how to fix it and actually used it maybe more beneficially than others have.

“But as I say, the other teams, you know, for example, Red Bull, they’re putting in 100 millilitres of water in each tyre to cool the tyre. I mean, why?

“Are they crazy? It’s just wrong. That’s just wasting your effort, time and the whole bit, to be honest.

“So, yeah, look at yourself. Don’t necessarily look at everybody else.”

McLaren are on course for a first championship double since 1998 as, halfway through the F1 2025 season, the Woking team leads Ferrari by 238 points while Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sit 1-2 in the Drivers’ standings. Piastri, who leads with 234 points, is 69 clear of third-placed Max Verstappen.

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