Red Bull to protest against Mercedes

To protest against the legality of the rear wing

Red Bull to protest against Mercedes
©Reuters

Red Bull is concerned about the legality of Mercedes' rear wing and will protest if they notice anything strange at this weekend's Qatar Grand Prix, according to CEO Christian Horner.

Horner remarked after stewards denied Mercedes' plea to revisit a decision not to penalize Red Bull's title leader Max Verstappen for an altercation with Lewis Hamilton during the previous race in Brazil.

Mercedes leads Red Bull by 11 points in the constructors' title, and Verstappen leads Hamilton by 14 points in the drivers' standings with three races left.

Red Bull has long had reservations about Mercedes' rear wing, with Verstappen feeling it with his hands following a Saturday sprint race in Brazil and receiving a 50,000 euro ($56,545) penalty.

Following Azerbaijan in June, the FIA instituted additional flexibility tests in response to allegations that certain teams were breaking the rules by using wings that passed static inspection but performed differently at speed. more info

Horner mentioned score marks' from flexing that were visible on the wing's endplates.

"I believe this is something far more complex... it's buried in the way it runs so that it's tougher to detect with a camera," he explained.

"The straight line performance has gone exponential since Hungary (in August), notably in the previous two grand prix. And I believe it is apparent that this is of importance to us."

When asked if Red Bull will complain, Horner said, "Make no mistake about it, if we see it on the car here, it will be protested."

Mercedes' head of trackside engineering, Andrew Shovlin, dismissed the suspicion.

"We looked at it (the wing), and there are no score marks," he said on Sky Sports.

"From our perspective, we're completely satisfied with what we've got on the car. We've encouraged the FIA to look at it as much as they want; they have no objections to what we've got "He continued.

"We'll figure out what's fastest, put it on the vehicle, and ignore any suggestions from other teams."

Horner stated that Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey and chief engineer Paul Monaghan had spoken with the governing authority about the issue.

Horner predicted that the wing will be less of an influence in Qatar than in the season's last two races in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah street track and Abu Dhabi.

"You may end up in a situation like Brazil where the vehicle (Mercedes) is simply unraceable," he added of his competitors' straight line speed.

Edited - SportsAction / Inputs - Reuters