McLaren’s chief executive Zak Brown warned on Friday of “massive consequences” if champions Red Bull were found to have breached Formula One rules on adjusting car set-ups during parc ferme conditions.
Red Bull, who are trailing McLaren in the constructors’ standings, have confirmed the presence of a ride-height device in their cars but insist it could not be accessed once they were fully assembled.
The team have agreed to make changes after discussions with the governing FIA, with the device likely to have seals attached to it.
Brown said at the US Grand Prix that there were still questions to answer.
He suggested Red Bull’s statement was carefully worded, with cars not always “fully assembled” in parc ferme conditions and particularly when issues of driver comfort needed to be addressed.
‘I’m not alone in our concerns for what we have seen and heard’
“What doesn’t quite stack up is the comment that you can’t modify it,” he told Sky Sports. “If it’s not accessible post or during parc ferme, then why put a seal on it?
“I think it needs to be a very thorough investigation because if you touch your car from a performance standpoint after parc ferme or in parc ferme, that is a black-and-white material, substantial breach which comes with massive consequences.”
Brown said it was up to the FIA to “come up with a solution that is transparent and is satisfactory to all the teams”.
He added: “I think I’m not alone in our concerns for what we have seen and heard.”
Rivals have raised concern that such a device could allow the car’s ride height to be adjusted between qualifying and the race, which would be illegal but produce a performance advantage.
Brown said Red Bull appeared to be the only F1 team “that has the ability to adjust the ride height from inside the cockpit”, although he accepted drivers would physically be unable to do so.
“Our questions are a bit more around what has maybe historically happened in understanding if it’s been used in an inappropriate manner,” he said.
Red Bull have won the last two constructors’ championships, including the most dominant season on record last year, and the last three drivers’ titles with Max Verstappen.
Verstappen is leading McLaren’s Lando Norris by 52 points in the current standings with six rounds remaining.
Brown slams Red Bull for Norris mental-health jibe
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown also accused Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko of poor taste and setting Formula One back decades for comments about the mental resilience of title contender Lando Norris.
The Austrian had suggested McLaren’s Norris had “mental weaknesses” compared to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and cited the Briton’s pre-race rituals as proof of his fragile state of mind.
Norris, 24, has been an outspoken campaigner for mental health.
“I read Helmut’s comments, which I thought were disappointing but not surprising. Lando has been kind of an ambassador for mental health,” Brown told a US Grand Prix news conference.
“[Mercedes boss) Toto [Wolff] has spoken about mental health, so I think it’s a serious issue we’ve tried to talk about to bring to the forefront and make it okay to talk about,” added the American.
“Poking at that situation, I think, is pretty inappropriate and kind of sets us back 10-20 years.
“But you know, it’s all fun and games in how some people go racing and what tactics they use from a sporting perspective, but I thought that one was in pretty poor taste.”
Brown said Norris was very focused and excited for the final round of races.
Marko, 81 and a former racer, has a record of controversial comments.
Last year the Austrian, who reports to the energy drink company and is not an employee of the British-based champions, had to apologise after blaming his team’s Mexican driver Sergio Perez’s fluctuating form on his ethnicity.
