The spotlight was turned up by Zak Brown: at the Miami GP, the McLaren CEO showed up on the pit wall with a papaya-colored water bottle and a provocative slogan: “Water for the tyres.” The American manager sparked laughter, but also controversy, responding to accusations that the Woking team uses illegal systems to cool their tyres.
The accusation came from Red Bull, which is keeping a close eye on the team that is currently dominating both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris leading the field. Rumors from Milton Keynes suggested that the MCL39s were able to control tyre overheating by injecting atomized water. Both Pirelli and the FIA have conducted frequent inspections and found nothing irregular, although the papaya cars remain under observation.
McLaren has won five of the six races held so far, and any team setting the pace in F1 is quickly suspected of exploiting the regulatory grey zone to find performance. One might say Red Bull knows a thing or two about this, having won the last four titles with Max Verstappen. But to ease the pressure, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is always ready to counter rival Christian Horner’s comments: “I have no doubt they’re staying within the rules. The development of this car is excellent. They’ve figured out how to manage the tyres far better than others, and in my opinion, it’s entirely legitimate.”
The MCL39 has a unique trait: the higher the track temperature, the bigger the advantage over its competitors, who tend to destroy their tyres. Heat, then, becomes McLaren’s ally — without forgetting that the papaya car remains a universal F1 machine, showing great adaptability to any circuit configuration. Red Bull engineers in Miami were hoping track temperatures would stay below 40°C to have a chance at challenging Piastri and Norris, but…
Max Verstappen had to raise the white flag, even losing out to George Russell’s Mercedes, despite the track temperature dropping below the threshold — wrecking predictions of a possible chase.
The 37-second gap Oscar opened on Russell, who finished third in Florida, highlights an impressive McLaren advantage, disrupting plans for what many expected to be a four-way title fight with millisecond differences. Helmut Marko, as always outspoken, admitted that the RB21 is currently dealing with a seven-tenths-per-lap deficit! An enormous gap for the final year of a mature regulatory cycle.
McLaren is under the spotlight for two technical solutions: first, wing flexibility; second, the ability to keep tyres alive longer than others by avoiding overheating.
Ferrari has made no secret of aiming to re-enter the fight at the Spanish GP, hoping to bounce back in what has been a disastrous season for the Scuderia. Beyond relying on promised upgrades, it’s clear that Maranello is also counting on the FIA’s new static checks to be introduced from Barcelona, which should significantly limit flap flexibility. McLaren has benefited from current rules to find the right car balance, with significant behavioral shifts between slow and high-speed sections.
Peter Prodromou, McLaren’s head of aerodynamics, worked toward excellence at low speeds, conceding some ground to Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari on the speed trap, but making up for it with superior downforce generated by the bodywork. The tyres, therefore, benefit from vertical loads that transmit a lot of energy, always ensuring a strong contact patch that keeps the rubber in the optimal operating window.
Anyone thinking that the change in wing regulations could destabilize McLaren is badly mistaken: Rob Marshall, papaya technical director, has had nearly six months to implement corrections to the flap design that has clearly offered advantages. The programmed deformation under load variation involves not just the visible flaps on TV but also the main profile and endplates.
But the other key area of interest is the double carbon baskets that cover each wheel corner. McLaren’s skill lies in separating the heat generated by the braking system (calipers and discs) from the cool air circulated between the two baskets. The brake duct sends only a small amount of air to the brakes — the majority is channeled through intricate ducts that direct cold air to prevent heat from radiating first into the rim and then into the tyre.
The ability to maintain a stable temperature in the gap between the two baskets allows for longer tyre life over a stint and prevents tyre overheating in the final sector during qualifying, where the MCL39 often makes the difference.
Seeing a “naked” McLaren without the baskets isn’t easy unless you’re willing to stake out the pit lane for hours: studying the individual airflow paths that, when combined, provide the tyre “operating window” is one of the most complex aspects in the current era of ground-effect F1 cars. Especially since each track has very different characteristics (grip, weather, asphalt temperature, tyre compounds), meaning there’s no one-size-fits-all solution — corner design must adapt to changing conditions.
So, it won’t be easy to corner McLaren, given the substantial advantage they’ve built. And some, not fully understanding it, may already shift their focus entirely to the 2026 cars, which promise an unprecedented regulatory revolution…
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