Helmut Marko took aim at "moaning" Mercedes and accused the FIA of changing Formula 1 rules in a bid to slow Red Bull down.
To say the Red Bulls have been in a league of their own so far this season would be an understatement. No one has even been able to come close to competing with the RB19s, which have scored four one-two finishes out of five races in 2023.
The only exception came in Australia when a qualifying spin saw Sergio Perez start from the back of the grid and recover to fifth. Max Verstappen was ninth at the beginning of Sunday's race in Miami but made victory look effortless.
One of the car's biggest weapons is its Drag Reduction System (DRS) which is miles more effective than anyone else's. And it has not gone unnoticed by Red Bull chiefs that, ahead of the last two races, the DRS zones on the tracks have been shortened compared to previous years.
Team adviser Marko is convinced that it is a move by the FIA to level the playing field. "Exactly!" he replied when asked by Motorsport Magazin if he felt this was the case, after stating: "Overtaking has always been difficult but especially when the DRS zones are shortened. And we know why that happens."
He went on to suggest that complaints from one of Red Bulls' biggest rivals might be playing a part in the FIA's recent actions. "We have to stop intervening with these kinds of manipulative tricks, it is bizarre that Mercedes, of all teams, is moaning," the Austrian added.
"For years, Mercedes had the superior engine and they were much further ahead of the competition than we are now. And then when you deliver a flop of a car two years in a row, you might be wise to focus on that."
Despite the shortened DRS zones, Red Bull still made light work of the competition in Miami. Race winner Verstappen was 26 seconds up the road from the nearest non-Red Bull driver, third-placed Fernando Alonso, and nearly a minute clear of his two most recent title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
As a result, Perez seems to be the only man capable of stopping the Dutchman in his quest for three straight F1 titles. But his ambitions took a blow as, despite that significant grid advantage, he was powerless to stop Verstappen from snatching the win.
