2 weeks Ago By Elizabeth Blackstock
During the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, word spread that Red Bull Racing suspected several competitors, including McLaren, of adding water to its tires in order to keep those tires cooler. Adding liquid to tires with an eye to cooling them would be directly against the rules, but according to Pirelli, nothing unusual has turned up when analyzing tires after a race weekend. Earlier in the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, Auto Motor und Sport reported that Red Bull Racing stated it suspected several teams, including McLaren, of injecting water into their Pirelli tires in order to improve cooling.
Motorsport.com now reports that these suspicions erupted after the Singapore Grand Prix. Per various reports, Red Bull suspected that some of its competitors were injecting small amounts of water into their tires via the valves.
The amount of water would have been large enough to make for an appreciable change in tire temperatures, but not so large as to be detected by Pirelli after the race. As with many aspects of F1, tires are extremely well regulated. Every tire features a barcode scanned by Pirelli to track its use, and Pirelli itself mounts a team’s tires onto its wheels.
Further, Pirelli technicians and other scrutineers are omnipresent forces in the Formula 1 paddock. This would make it extremely challenging — though not impossible — to manipulate the tires without being caught. 👉 Multiple drivers under FIA investigation for rules breach after Stroll incident confusion 👉 Lewis Hamilton, George Russell under FIA investigation over tyre pressure breach According to Motorsport.
com , initial concerns were raised in Singapore when moisture was spotted inside the wheel rims after the tires were stripped from the cars after the race. The FIA has been investigating this matter, and head of single seats, Nikolas Tombazis, also spoke with Pirelli to request additional oversight. However, Pirelli told Motorsport.
com that it has not noticed any abnormal behavior. “I cannot see anything strange from the data we have,” Mario Isola, Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing, said. “I don’t have any evidence.
” Isola did state that it would be “very easy” to inject water into the tires, but that doing so would necessarily come with tradeoffs in terms of tire pressure. While Isola would not entirely rule out the possibility that a team was utilizing water inside its tires, he reiterated that “I am not aware of any issue” but that he and Pirelli will support the FIA with any ongoing investigations. Read next: McLaren at centre of Red Bull tyre trick accusation amid FIA investigation – report.
