Total war in F1, the T-Tray case explodes: the complaint against Red Bull

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Challenge on and off the track, Piastri: "Grey zone? They entered the black one". Verstappen defends himself like this

A challenge on and off the track. In the 19th weekend of the F1 season in Austin, Texas, the topics that are taking centre stage are not only the raw and raw competitiveness between McLaren and Red Bull , rivals on multiple fronts of the Circus. In a weekend that will have the Sprint Race and qualifying for the GP tonight, the confrontation between Woking and Milton Keynes has gone beyond the track. The contest had already exceeded the warning levels in Baku (Azerbaijan), after the rear wing of Oscar Piastri 's car had taken on the characteristics of a mini-DRS.

The “drinks people” had asked to see clearly and the FIA ​​had intervened, asking the British team to modify that solution, which could have been replicated in Las Vegas and nowhere else, speaking of a decidedly unloaded wing. "We were the ones who asked the FIA ​​to change the rear wing: there was a lot of talk about it in the paddock both in Baku and here, so we offered to make this change and they accepted. Red Bull says that this slows us down by one or two tenths? I don't think we would have offered to make this change if we thought it would make a big difference" Zak Brown had declared.

In McLaren they went on the counterattack and started reporting against RB. Since a few technicians from the Anglo-Austrian team have moved to the papaya court, here is the case of the T-Tray on the RB20, or the presence of a device capable of modifying the height of the bottom from the ground, in the front part of the single-seater, in parc fermé. The response of the world champions was: "Such a solution exists, but it is inaccessible and it would be necessary to dismantle at least three macrocomponents of the front part to be able to act on it". A device positioned in the pedal area of ​​MaxVerstappen and SergioPerez's cars. However, if this had been possible, it would have given a significant advantage in adapting the car to the different fuel loads between qualifying and the race. The infringement was not detected but, as had previously happened in McLaren, Red Bull also modified their car with immediate effect due to a "pact made with the FIA".

There was no shortage of reactions. "It's not up to me to deal with it. I don't know much about it. Obviously we tend to exceed the limits of the technical regulations, like everyone else. This happens in F1, but from what I've heard and what I've been told, something like this is not exceeding the limits. It's clearly breaking them. I haven't heard what specific car it is on, obviously there are reports. If it's something that's being used, it's clearly not breaking the limits in the black zone" thundered Piastri. "For us it was just a simple tool to use when the parts were disassembled. It was used for adjustments, but once the whole car is assembled you can't touch it anymore. So for us nothing changes, we didn't get any benefit. Only after I discovered that what had been disclosed was linked to our team, we didn't even mention it in the briefing" Verstappen replied. And according to Lewis Hamilton: "Our sport is based on innovation. Red Bull innovated, and was ahead of everyone. In the end, all the teams read the regulations to look for the gray areas and study solutions starting from there". Federation, therefore, still chasing the "genius" of others, concluding with a "buffet".