Modern “Spy-gate” accusations made about McLaren – Formula One’s CEO, Stefan Domenicali recently bemoaned the lack of ‘spice’ in modern Formula One over technological disputes which existed during his time working for the Ferrari team. His previous roles in Maranello saw the F1 supremo promoted from the team’s sporting director to team principal following Jen Todd’s departure.
Stefano is now a poacher turned gamekeeper but is well versed in the various technical controversies which took place during the 2000’s and 2010’s.
One such example ended with dramatic consequences as both Ferrari cars were disqualified from the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix following their barge boards being found illegal. This provisionally handed Mika Hakkinen that season’s F1 drivers championship.
F1 CEO calls for more “spice”
“I’ve lived through many of those: Malaysia ’99, the double diffuser, FRIC, mass dampers, F-ducts… all part of F1’s story,” Domenicali told Autosport. “I used to be hands-on with technical and sporting regulation debates almost every Sunday. Years ago, there were far broader grey areas than today – but F1 people still know how to push everything to the limit.
“Personally, I feel today’s controversies are relatively minor. In fact, it’d be nice to have a bit more of that again – they’re the spice of the sport,” concluded the CEO of Formula One.
In three race weekends time, the FIA new regulation for flexi-body work will kick in for the Spanish Grand Prix. The common belief in the paddock is that McLaren are currently benefitting from bendy body work, which offers hope to Red Bull’s Dr. Helmut Marko who said Max needs to hang in the title fight for the next three races.
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“The races in Jeddah and Miami will be really difficult for us, and if we want to stay in the title fight, we have to achieve a podium finish in the next three races,” said the Red Bull advisor clearly indicating there should be some sort of pecking order change come the race in Barcelona.
Red Bull are sore at losing their constructors’ title to McLaren last year and have adopted an old school F1 approach to spying on the competition. In days of yore it was the responsibility of the teams to ‘protest’ their rivals to the FIA in a kind of referral process when they believed irregularities were taking place.
These days a better funded and technological capable FIA is often the first to notice any team pushing the limits too far. And rather than an instant sanction as was the case in Domenicali’s days, often the suspect is given time to prove they are in fact complying with the regulations.
This was the case in 2024 when McLaren were accused of utilising an illegal rear wing with a mini DRS which was not operated by the driver in the appropriate zones. The wing was first seen before the Sumer break in Belgium and then again in Monza where it caused a stir amongst the team’s competitors.
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Whilst no ‘protest’ was made by Red Bull and Ferrari, it was clear the FIA were investigating although the wing featured again at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In Singapore McLaren declared they had modified their wing from the previous weekend in Baku, the paddock assumption was the FIA had whispered in Zak’s ear instructing him to do so.
Interestingly from that point on Ferrari reeled in their rivals outscoring them by fifty nine points over the final six race weekends of the year. Come Spain in three race weekends time, will the new FIA ruling on flexible body work have a similar effect?
Having focused the attention of the FIA on the McLaren bodywork, Red Bull Racing appear determined to expose McLaren yet further. They accused the Woking based team last season of using water to illegally cool their tyres and the topic is now raising its head once again.
The mystery for many in the various team’s technical departments is how McLaren can keep their tyre wear to a minimum, whatever the temperature, state of the asphalt or type of circuit layout. Even Red Bull in their record breaking year of dominance proved they were weak in the humidity of the Marina Bay Circuit where three RB19 just did not work.
Red Bull “spying” on McLaren
German publication AMuS is now reporting Red Bull have been analysing the McLaren rear end come the pit stops, using an thermal imaging camera to capture the temperature of the tyre cooling ducts on the MCL39. The rear tyres being responsible for traction are the focus given they generally overheat much quicker than the fronts.
The report claims Red Bull have noted a large number of “blue areas around the brake vents on the McLaren, while the rest of the field are orange and red” indicating much hotter temperatures. Red Bull believe its “impossible” for McLaren to achieve this with just air cooling the tyres and vents alone.
Clearly the matter has been referred to the FIA, who when last were tasked with analysing the situation after complaints in Interlagos, could find nothing wrong being done. At that time Pirelli boss too, Mario Isola, explained it would be a difficult trick to achieve given the tyre pressures would be adversely affected as the water temperature within the tyres rose.
In Miami the row simmered on with the McLaren pit wall sporting several large drinking water bottles labelled “tire water.” Zak Brown was seen repeatedly taking a sip from his and when asked about the message the ten were sending, he dismissed it as a bit of fun.
Spice levels low for now
When told of his rival bosses antics, Christian Horner seemed relaxed saying, “we’ll send him a Red Bull down if he needs some energising.” Red Bull experimented with using water in their tyres some years ago, before the FIA closed the loophole they were relying on.
Whilst this latest rumble between McLaren and Red Bull is similar to an old fashioned technical dispute, the kind Domenicali referred to as adding ‘spice.’ The actual heat between Red Bull and McLaren is minimal, given these days the team bosses have to think about the image of the team, rather than go all in on a legality feud. The spice levels have not yet reached those which Domenicali remembers.
Yet the problem for McLaren is should they be found guilty of these antics, the publicity price will be high for such cheating and the sanctions available to the FIA could include a deduction of points and even disqualifications. Then the spice levels would be as Domenicali remembers which in 2007 included McLaren being stripped of their entire season’s results over the Ferrari ‘spygate’ affair.
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Whilst for now the 2025 season is nip and tuck between the pair of McLaren’s and Max Verstappen, the Miami Grand Prix may become the defining moment of the season before the teams head to their European homeland for ten rounds of Grand Prix racing.
As happened in Belgium and Las Vegas in 2024, the Mercedes car is suddenly looking like a race winner and with Kimi Antonelli the youngest ever pole sitter in an F1 race starting from pole in Saturday’s Sprint, Toto Wolff will be hoping his drivers can start to contend for race wins, rather than hope for podiums each weekend at best.
Lewis Hamilton appears to be getting to grips with his tricky Ferrari as he finished Sprint qualifying in P7, but was just under 2/10ths slower than his team mate who will start the short race form one place ahead of the former world champion… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
