Max Verstappen expressed suspicions that rival F1 teams may have violated technical rules for the 2024 season, but did not make any direct accusations.
As Red Bull’s form dipped throughout the season, the team was embroiled in a technical dispute, particularly with McLaren, over flexible front and rear wings, the mechanism for adjusting Red Bull’s front friction plates and allegations that some teams were using water to cool their tires.
This last claim means that water is added into the tires through a valve to dissipate heat and thereby improve tire wear. This would be a clear violation of the technical rules. Pirelli investigated these allegations, but as the only tire supplier, it was not difficult for them to notice such actions.
No team was found to have breached the technical rules in the specified areas, but this did not allay Verstappen’s suspicions.
Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache expressed his views on McLaren in an interview with RacingNews365. Speaking to de Telegraaf, Verstappen clarified his position without mentioning a specific team:
“Some things happened in the background and that’s why we had no chance in some races. I’m sure of that, but nobody will ever admit it.”
One of the low points in Red Bull’s decline was the Italian Grand Prix, where Verstappen finished sixth. The Dutch driver explained how he was baffled by some of the data he encountered about the car’s performance:
“All the plans for the new parts that came afterwards were thrown in the trash, the team actually started from the beginning.”
“Before, they couldn’t find out exactly what the problem was. At one point, when I was working on the data, I saw some graphs and it showed how the aerodynamic changes affected how we entered the corners, how we steered and how the ride height was affected. I said, ‘Hey, isn’t this the problem?’ And it was true. I had never seen these graphs and lines before.”
“Then I said what we need to focus on because the engineers know exactly what has changed from the previous year’s car. At the beginning of last season we were still winning races, but even then the balance of the car didn’t feel the way I wanted it to.”
“Still, we had a big advantage over other teams that maybe didn’t have a good winter.”
