Oscar Piastri, McLaren investigated after F1 spying storm erupts

Oscar Piastri has reportedly been investigated by F1 officials over allegations of an illegal tactic used to win the Miami Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri has reportedly been cleared following an extensive investigation of his McLaren car following his victory at the Miami Grand Prix on Monday morning.

The Australian’s MCL39 looked more and more like an unbeatable rocketship the longer the race continued on the Miami street track with the McLarens finishing 30 seconds clear of their nearest challenger — George Russell of Mercedes.

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The sheer dominance of the 2025 McLaren is something Red Bull boss Christian Horner has struggled to accept. The team principal has on several occasions publicly questioned the legality of McLaren’s rear brake design.

McLaren’s ability to better manage rear tyre temperatures has been the envy of the grid this season.

There has been ongoing speculation that McLaren’s success is the result of a secret system that cools the outer surface of its rear brake drum.

Horner last year went public with his suspicions McLaren were injecting water into its Pirelli tyres.

Horner did not make any official protest against McLaren and there has been no evidence of any foul play being used by the Woking-based team.

Pirelli and the FIA, Formula 1’s governing body, reviewed the McLaren at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix and found no wrongdoing.

Now, The Race reports FIA officials conducted detailed inspections of the two McLarens in the hours after Piastri and Lando Norris pulled off a perfect 1-2 finish.

Auto Motor und Sport reports Red Bull sourced thermal images that show cold spots on the MCL39 rear brake drums.

The spying operation has not amounted to anything with the FIA giving McLaren the all clear.

McLaren boss Zak Brown and Horner have traded friendly verbal barbs in recent months and the American took things to another level with a cheeky swipe at Horner during the Miami Grand Prix.

Oscar Piastri (left) and Zak Brown sipping his "tire water" (right).

Brown was spotted at the McLaren pit wall drinking from a water bottle that was labelled “tire water”.

The exchanges between Horner and Brown have threatened to turn bitter.

A fed-up Brown has told Red Bull to make an official protest — with the suggestion being that they should shut their mouths if not prepared to take the step.

“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 said.

“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 back channel what your allegations are, I think that would be a way to clean up the bogus allegations that happened 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.”

Horner stepped around the issue on Monday by saying McLaren made similar moves at the beginning of the 2024 season — when Red Bull still had the dominant car on the grid.

“I’m not suggesting that there’s anything illegal on the car,” Horner told reporters.

“Well done to McLaren, they were in a league of their own.

“Of course in Formula 1 there are always going to be questions that are raised.

“[McLaren] did exactly the same about the front suspension on our car last year. So it’s inevitable when you’re running at the front, as we have for the last few years, you always come under more scrutiny.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are dominating the rest of the F1 grid. Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images/AFP.

“McLaren have got the car to beat at the moment, that’s quite clear. They’re going to be tough to beat over the next few races.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, however, has given McLaren his support as the intrigue about the MCL39 continues to swirl.

Wolff has told Motorsport Week he views Brown and other top McLaren officials as “people with integrity”.

“I have no doubt that these guys [McLaren] stay within the rules,” he said.

“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.

“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 ‘cheating’, because that’s not the right attitude anyway.”

Originally published as Oscar Piastri, McLaren investigated after F1 spying storm erupts