A meeting took place in Paris between the FIA president and the head of Red Bull.

      This week in Paris, negotiations took place between Mohammed ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA, and Oliver Mintzlaff, the head of the Austrian company Red Bull, whose management wants to understand how the federation's experts concluded that the engines produced by Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT) are the best in Formula 1.

      The RBPR engineering division is based in Milton Keynes and, in collaboration with Ford, produces power units for Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls. DM01 is its debut development, and, of course, when the FIA recognized it as the best in the championship, it raised some eyebrows.

      But the main difficulty lies elsewhere: if this is indeed the case, then RBPT will not have the opportunity to refine its engines within the ADUO program, which puts both teams at a disadvantage compared to their rivals.

      In any case, Red Bull disagrees with the federation's conclusions, particularly believing that their internal combustion engine (ICE) lags behind Mercedes engines, and this single factor leads to a deficit of about 0.2-0.3 seconds per lap.

      Red Bull management has not made any official statements yet, but according to The Race, behind the scenes, attempts are being made to obtain detailed clarifications from the FIA. Meanwhile, the federation's calculations were based on readings from special torque sensors installed on all cars.

      It is assumed that the FIA data is not final, and within the next week, the federation should thoroughly verify everything and complete its analysis, but Red Bull management decided to enter negotiations without wasting time.

      However, Mohammed ben Sulayem did not specify what issues were discussed in Paris when he wrote on his social media pages: "The meeting with Oliver Mintzlaff at the FIA headquarters in Paris went excellently. We discussed the significant contribution of Red Bull to the championships held under the federation's auspices, especially the company's long-standing participation in Formula 1 and the World Rally."

      At the same time, Toto Wolff is convinced that no political motives influenced the FIA's conclusions: "In my opinion, when you talk to Nicholas Tombazis (FIA's single-seater racing director), it becomes clear that it is only about the measurements that were made and summed up. There is no political undertone here, nor are there any signs of favoritism, and these are merely conclusions drawn based on the analysis of data obtained from torque sensors."

      However, according to Mattia Binotto, head of the Audi F1 project, it would probably be more appropriate to consider not only this but also the teams' standings in the Constructors' Cup.