McLaren CEO Zak Brown has had enough of the ‘false’ accusations from other teams, including Red Bull, towards his own racing stable. Since the start of McLaren’s dominance, the team has been accused of using ‘tyre water’ to better cool the rubber of the MCL39. Brown now proposes a solution to counter the ongoing allegations, and immediately receives support from FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
McLaren is currently the team to beat, largely due to their superior tyre management. Red Bull is suspicious, and presumably suspects the British racing stable of cooling their tyres in an illegal manner. According to multiple sources, the Austrians even believed that McLaren would inject water into their rubber. Zak Brown mocked Red Bull’s allegations in Miami by drinking from a bottle labelled ‘tyre water’.
“The water bottle was a joke about a serious issue, namely that teams have a history of accusing other teams without reason. Lately, one team has been focusing more on this strategy than others,” Brown seems to be referring to Max Verstappen.
The American then explains how he wants to counter such allegations in the future. “There is an official way to protest against a team at the end of the race. You have to do this formally, announce where the protest is coming from, and put down money. I think this process should be extended to all allegations to put an end to the frivolous accusations that are only meant to distract.”
Support from the FIA President
Brown hopes that if teams have to put down money, which falls under the budget cap, as soon as they accuse the competition of something, there will be fewer ‘false’ accusations. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is in favour of the McLaren CEO’s proposal. “You can’t just accuse someone of something without an official complaint. And for that protest, you have to pay,” the Emirati told AP. Ben Sulayem immediately proposes to set a maximum amount of 50,000 dollars.
