Toeing the line is the first thing that FIA wants all the F1 teams to do. Winning is secondary. As the stakes are so high in this sport, following the rules is very important and that is why there are frequent changes in them too. However, Red Bull has become infamous for being a troublemaker ever since 2021. It was the first year when the FIA had set a ceiling for the amount of money each team could spend on their operations, and an audit had found Red Bull guilty of not conforming to that regulation.

However, the Austrian team paid a hefty fine for its offense and the matter died down. Now, another rumor about the team not following FIA’s rules has come to light. At the start of the 2024 season, Red Bull got two back-to-back top-2 finishes for its recruits, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. But after the Miami GP, the team seemed to have a fall from grace. The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri showed off the sheer speed of their MCL36 while Red Bull fell behind, trying to catch up to them.

The sudden change in Red Bull’s performance became even more glaringly obvious when its gap with McLaren in the Championship standings started becoming smaller. As of now, only 42 points separate the top two teams in this year’s campaign. This has led to several F1 fans questioning what might have happened to the RB20’s pace overnight. In response to this question, F1 columnist Robin Frijns wrote for Formule1, “What I’ve heard from Spanish media is that the FIA has found something, or that other teams have complained about something specific on Red Bull’s car and eventually had to change it as well. As a result, they would have lost a lot of speed.”

While Frijns’ allegation against Red Bull is based on hearsay evidence, the former racer (who actually hails from Max Verstappen’s country) believes this fact to be true–but why?

Robin Frijns is convinced about Red Bull’s rule-breaking

Frijns has already made a shocking claim about Red Bull’s RB20 racecar. But there have been no other reports to show that the Austrian outfit’s rival teams protested against it. Still, the Dutch ex-racer believes the rumor he has heard can be true. He said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that [the rumor about Red Bull] is true. Because in Formula 1 it is of course hard between the teams, everyone is watching each other. That’s what makes the sport so much fun, I think.”

In the past two F1 seasons, Red Bull had won the Constructors’ Championship with huge gaps of 451 points (2023) and 205 points (2022). But this time, it very well looks like McLaren can surpass Christian Horner‘s army. And the reason behind this can be that the RB20 did not become slower all of a sudden, but McLaren’s MCL36 has become faster. Ahead of the Miami GP, the team had added new upgrades to their car. And this has led to a massive performance boost for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

But there is still some hope for Red Bull. The team now has the entire summer break in F1 to think about how to improve the RB20. Who knows, maybe the Milton-Keynes outfit will come out with new upgrades that will blow all its rivals, including McLaren, out of the park?