Red Bull Racing have hit a bump in their third straight dominant season in F1 this year. While Max Verstappen has won 6 of the 9 races so far, the drink based outfit is losing ground in constructors championship due to Sergio Perez’s failures and growing competition from McLaren and Ferrari.
In addition to Red Bull’s misery, Mercedes also gained speed in Canada following a front-wing upgrade. Hence, to curb the competition, Red Bull approached FIA to check the legalities of Mercedes’ unusual front wing. Apart from the Silver Arrows, the drink-based outfit is also apparently planning to snitch on direct competitors.
Red Bull Grows Suspicious Of Ferrari, McLaren Front Wing
In a bid to rule out the competition, Red Bull Racing have sought unusual means. As per rep Formu1a.uno, Christian Horner’s team lodged an unofficial complaint with the FIA against the legality of Mercedes’ unusual front wing set-up. When W15 was first launched in February, the Silver Arrows’ front wing had a flexible wing lap design, which was believed to be exceeding the flexibility limit set up by FIA. However, the front wing passed the FIA test because the governing body measures it in a stationary position. Hence, often, F1 teams find loopholes to alter the front wing lap’s flexibility when the car is in motion on the track. That being said, AMuS has now learned that after Mercedes, RB is likely to complain against Ferrari and McLaren’s front wing.
Red Bull is apparently suspicious of Ferrari and McLaren violating FIA terms with their front wing design, which may have resulted in their performance gains this year. Interestingly, FIA once took action against Aston Martin over the same issue. Hence, if Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren are indeed found guilty of exploiting the loopholes, they may be asked by the FIA to limit their front wing lap movement. Having said that, FIA is yet to respond to Red Bull’s protest. But the recent complaints clearly reflect Red Bull’s desperation to get rid of the competition. While they are managing RB20’s stability and overall correlation issue, mind games have also come into play as the F1 season gets intense through the halfway stage. It would be interesting to see if the FIA issues any directives for the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren Boss Issues Direct Threat To RB
Amid significant performance gains, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has warned Red Bull Racing to stay wary of competition from McLaren. He explained that when a team is dominating, they have everything going their way. From speed, to lower tyre degradation to fastest pit stops to a complete car package, RB has it all.
However, Zak Browns insists that McLaren has achieved most of the things except for car reliability. “We’re knocking on the door. It’s just about being a little bit incrementally better everywhere,” Brown said. Indeed, McLaren has multiple upgrade packages lined up in the pipeline, and if all things fall in place as expected, we might see McLaren overtaking Red Bull this season.
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