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Toto Wolff says he has “no doubt” that McLaren are operating within F1’s rules despite suspicions arising about their superior tyre management.
Strong tyre management has been a hallmark of McLaren’s 2025 challenger amid their dominant start to the season which has seen the team win five of the opening six rounds and lead both world championships by a comfortable margin.
Oscar Piastri headed teammate Lando Norris for another convincing McLaren 1-2 at the Miami Grand Prix, with Mercedes’ George Russell finishing 37.644 seconds adrift in a distant third.
There have been suggestions from Red Bull that McLaren are bending the rules with how they are keeping their tyres cool and subsequently limiting degradation over a grand prix distance.
“I think that the team around Zak [Brown], Andrea [Stella], Rob Marshall… these are good people with integrity,” Wolff told media including Crash.net after Sunday’s race.
“If in the past, [we] often say: ‘Well, let’s look at whether there’s something borderline’, but I have no doubt that these guys [McLaren] stay within the rules.
“It’s just really good development [with] that car. They’ve understood how to manage the tyre much better than everybody else and, in my opinion, it’s totally legit.”
Oscar Piastri
Toto Wolff jabs at Christian Horner as McLaren respond
Wolff appeared to take aim at Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner by suggesting it is wrong to throw around accusations simply because a rival team is doing a better job.
“Also, from a team management point of view, we should never… when somebody is doing a better job than you, we should not look at that and say: ‘They’re cheating’, because that’s not the right attitude anyway,” he added.
“So we just need to become better and eventually not [lose] 30 or 35 seconds over 57 laps.”
McLaren’s Zak Brown, who has labelled his drinks bottle ‘tire water’, hit back at what he described as being “bogus” allegations from 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,” he explained.
“There’s a proper way to protest a team at the end of the race, and you have to make it formal, disclose where it comes from, put some money down.
“I think that process should be extended to all allegations to stop the frivolous allegations which are intended only to be a distraction.
“So if you had to put up some money and put on paper and not backchannel what your allegations are, I think that would be a way to clean up the bogus allegations that happened in this sport, which are not very sporting.
“And if someone does believe there’s a technical issue, by all means you’re entitled to it. Put it on paper, put your money down.
“It should come against your cost cap if it turns out you’re wrong, and I think that will significantly stop the bogus allegations that come from some teams in the sport.”
