F1 boss hits out at rivals' cheating claims

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner at F1 Testing — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

F1 boss hits out at rivals' cheating claims

Toto Wolff has criticised his Red Bull rivals

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 10 May 2025 19:00

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has hit out at a rival team after their campaign against the current constructors' championship leaders.

McLaren have leapt ahead of the pack since the first lap of the 2025 season, with a three-figure points lead over Wolff's team in the standings after just six races.

However, Red Bull accused the team of putting water in their tyres to cool them, which would give a team a pace advantage, although this allegations remain unproven.

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Red Bull has started to investigate McLaren using thermal imaging cameras, but Mercedes chief Wolff has made it clear he supports McLaren after the allegations from Red Bull.

"I think that the team around Zak [Brown], Andrea [Stella], Rob Marshall... these are good people with integrity," Wolff told the media after the Miami Grand Prix.

"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.”

"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.”

"So we just need to become better and eventually not [lose] 30 or 35 seconds over 57 laps.”

McLaren respond to Red Bull cheating claims

McLaren CEO Zak Brown responded to the cheating claims himself in Miami, where he took a sly dig at Horner’s team and was accompanied by a water bottle labelled ‘tire water’ on the pit wall during the weekend.

However, Brown has since hit out at Red Bull’s claims branding them as ‘bogus’, and calling for an end to teams making unfounded allegations.

"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,” Brown told the media in Miami.

"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 happen 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."

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Red Bull Mercedes McLaren Toto Wolff Miami Grand Prix Zak Brown