Intrigue around McLaren as the team's defeat to Red Bull in Imola coincides with the FIA's technical directives: Reports

It is being reported that McLaren's defeat to Red Bull could be related to the FIA's technical directives introduced during the 2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last weekend. The Woking-based outfit started the race from pole position with Oscar Piastri leading the grid ahead of Max Verstappen and George Russell.

The Aussie driver has been efficient in race management this year, having won four races, but in Imola, he failed to negate Verstappen's threat and lost his P1 on the opening lap of the race through a brilliant overtake from the latter. However, the most surprising aspect of the weekend was the lack of race pace from McLaren compared to their rivals Red Bull on Sunday.

McLaren had no answer to the Dutch driver's pace during the course of the race as the latter raced into the distance and won the race comfortably. Notably, ahead of the weekend, FIA had introduced two technical directives related to some parts on the cars that went unnoticed.

As per The Race, the first technical directive was related to the measurement of skid block materials, and to stop some teams from using clever tricks to pass the probe tests that measure the depth of the plank following the race.

Meanwhile, the second one focused on the communication related to the questions about devices that could potentially be allowed to help with tyre cooling in the ongoing saga regarding McLaren's tire management.

FIA further clarified that the ideas and designs related to the use of water for tire cooling would not be entertained by the governing body. However, McLaren denied that it was affected by any of the two directive in Imola and were beaten on pure performance by Red Bull.

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McLaren team boss reacts to being beaten by Red Bull in Imola

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admitted that he was "surprised" by Red Bull's strong pace in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last weekend.

Speaking with F1.com after getting another double podium finish in 2025, the Italian said:

“I have to say today we were a little surprised, I think I have to be honest here, by the pace of Red Bull, which was very competitive. Well done to Max, well done to Red Bull, for being able to pull off this kind of performance, which meant that the race was very much decided by the episode, or just a swap of position between Oscar and Max in corner one.

"After that, we tried to chase him, but effectively we didn't have enough race pace today to be able to beat Max, taking the lead after lap one. “We attempted to unlock various scenarios to try and beat Max, but at no stage I think we saw that we had enough race pace,"

McLaren finished P2 and P3 in Imola with Lando Norris leading his teammate, Oscar Piastri, on the podium, behind Max Verstappen.