Verstappen suspects F1 rivals of illegal tricks in title fight

Max Verstappen has hinted that some F1 teams might have broken technical rules in 2024, but stopped short of making a direct accusation. 

As Red Bull's form slumped through the season, the team was engaged in a technical tit-for-tat with major championship rival McLaren, especially over flexi front and rear-wings, Red Bull's front ride-height bib adjuster and finally the claim that some teams had been using water to cool their tyres. 

This last claim would be a flagrant breach of the technical regulations with water being added through a valve in the tyre to help dissipate heat, and thus improve tyre wear. It is something Pirelli looked into, but it would be easy for the sole tyre supplier to be aware of such actions. 

No team was found to be operating outside the technical rules in any of the areas flagged, but this has not stopped Verstappen having his suspicions. 

Pierre Wache, Red Bull's technical director, previously expressed his opinion about McLaren in an interview with RacingNews365, and whilst Verstappen does not name a specific team, he made his position clear. 

"Things happened in the background, so we had no chance at all in certain races," he told de Telegraaf. 

"I know that for sure, but no one will ever admit that."

Article continues below. 

Verstappen on Red Bull

The nadir in the slump for Red Bull came at the Italian Grand Prix where Verstappen finished a lowly sixth - with the Dutchman explaining how he was taken aback by some of the data he came across regarding the performance of the car.

"All plans for new parts, which were to come after that, were thrown in the garbage can, the team actually started from scratch after that," he described. 

"Before that, they couldn't find the exact problem. I saw a couple of graphs come up at one point when we were looking at the data. I saw certain aerodynamic shifts how we went into the corners, steering and also in terms of driving heights.

"It was different from the car the year before. I said: 'Hey, it's very clear that this is the problem, isn't it?' which was true. I hadn't seen those lines and graphs before.

 "I then said that it was quite clear what we needed to work on, because the engineers obviously know exactly what had been changed from last year's car. 

"At the beginning of last season, we still won our races convincingly, but I felt even then that the balance of the car didn't feel the way I wanted it to. 

"We still had a big lead over other teams, who perhaps hadn't had a very good winter."