Red Bull suspects McLaren and a few other teams of filling water into the tyres

[Sergej]

Doubt it, this loophole, if it was real, will be closed by Pirelli who'll enhance supervision, and for past events you can't prove anything anymore, so no ground for official protest; I mean they did not even protest McLaren's Baku win with a full screen video showing a 2nd DRS lol

10.8.4 Treatment of tyres

a. Tyres may only be inflated with air or nitrogen.

b. Any process the intent of which is to reduce the amount of moisture in the tyre and/or
in its inflation gas is forbidden.

c. A complete wheel must contain a single fixed internal gas volume. No valves, bleeds or
permeable membranes are permitted other than to inflate or deflate the tyre whilst the
car is stationary.

https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... -04-25.pdf

However anyone spins it, it's quite clear what rules define as legal and illegal. Think I saw there was also a TD introduced to close a loophole after RB experimented with water inside tyres years ago, I imagine rules have been rewritten since.

I don't doubt this practice is illegal (I used the wrong word "loophole" previously), I doubt anyone would be able to prove someone did it in past events.

[Sergej]

McLaren lodged an official complaint against red bull's adjustable t-tray although no evidence can be found in retrospect. I'm expecting the same thing to happen with Watergate

McLaren asked a clarification which is what Red Bull already asked about this "watergate", so what to expect more than a more focused supervision by Pirelli ? past results will remain untouched, only thing we can expect is a lot of "noise" if McLaren won't show anymore that blistering pace at the end of the stints.

[Vanja #66]

I don't doubt this practice is illegal (I used the wrong word "loophole" previously), I doubt anyone would be able to prove someone did it in past events.

Yeah, no, that aint happening

[PlatinumZealot]

Doubt it, this loophole, if it was real, will be closed by Pirelli who'll enhance supervision, and for past events you can't prove anything anymore, so no ground for official protest; I mean they did not even protest McLaren's Baku win with a full screen video showing a 2nd DRS lol

10.8.4 Treatment of tyres

a. Tyres may only be inflated with air or nitrogen.

b. Any process the intent of which is to reduce the amount of moisture in the tyre and/or
in its inflation gas is forbidden.

c. A complete wheel must contain a single fixed internal gas volume. No valves, bleeds or
permeable membranes are permitted other than to inflate or deflate the tyre whilst the
car is stationary.

https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... -04-25.pdf

However anyone spins it, it's quite clear what rules define as legal and illegal. Think I saw there was also a TD introduced to close a loophole after RB experimented with water inside tyres years ago, I imagine rules have been rewritten since.

I don't doubt this practice is illegal (I used the wrong word "loophole" previously), I doubt anyone would be able to prove someone did it in past events.

"Air" contents varies by weather and location. How does FIA define "air?" it must have some limits on the normal contents.
Remember, air already has a varying amount of water vapour in it. And at 100% humidity is still considered air. E.g when rain falls.


At 80 degrees C air can hold 8 grams of water per cubic meter at 100% Rel humidity so it's not much to get into a tyre.

Add to this the improvements in thermal conductity (note convection will come into play more) but conductivity also important at the boundary layer.

https://i.sstatic.net/aj3bh.png

[scuderiabrandon]

McLaren lodged an official complaint against red bull's adjustable t-tray although no evidence can be found in retrospect. I'm expecting the same thing to happen with Watergate

watergate

[dialtone]

McLaren lodged an official complaint against red bull's adjustable t-tray although no evidence can be found in retrospect. I'm expecting the same thing to happen with Watergate

watergate

Today of all days