Emilia Romagna GP 2025: Did Revised FIA Directives Lead to McLaren Being Beaten by Max Verstappen and Red Bull?

Ahead of the Emilia Romagna GP 2025 in Imola, the FIA - Formula 1's governing body - put out not one but two technical directives, or TDs for short. 

The issuing of such TDs is not unusual. In fact, they were not put out as changes to any of the existing rules but to clarify the regulations and the purposes of such rules. 

Yet there were suspicions afterwards that the two TDs - issued around wear on the skid blocks as well as methods to cool the tyres - had an impact on McLaren's performance in the race. 

Max Verstappen ended up beating Oscar Piastri thanks to an audacious first lap move as well as showing better race pace on the medium tyres. 

Verstappen Downplays Tyre Doubts

The reason this suspicion was raised is due to the fact that in recent weeks, Verstappen's team Red Bull have raised doubts that McLaren are doing something illegal to cool their tyres - like using water in them. 

However, it seems as if this is a line of reasoning that Verstappen himself does not agree with and pushed back against after the race. 

"If you look at what McLaren is doing with the rear tyres, then we’re all doing something wrong," he told the Dutch print media.

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Red Bull Dominance Only Fleeting?

What's more, Verstappen further added that he did not expect the team to dominate in all races, saying the Red Bull worked well in specific tracks only - namely, ones with high-speed corners. 

"I think it's very track specific. I mean, every time that we have been really competitive, it’s been high-speed tracks, high-speed corners. Of course, we brought upgrades. I think they worked, but Monaco is very different. It’s not been our strongest track with the car that we have, so let's see how we are going to perform there."

The next two races are in Monaco and Spain, two tracks where Red Bull's weaknesses may be exposed due to the track featuring plenty of slower corners.