Horner Hits Back After 'Moaning' From Rivals Triggers 'Paranoia' Around Red Bull's Car
F1Saturday, 19 October 2024 at 18:00
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner defended his F1 team amid accusations of potential regulation breach with a special device found.
On Thursday, ahead of the United States Grand Prix, it was revealed multiple F1 teams expressed their concerns to the FIA about a device located in the Red Bull cars that serves as a front bib adjustment.
These teams suspected that Red Bull Racing might have been using this device to alter the ride height of their cars between qualifying and race, which might lead to improved performance and is strictly forbidden.
While FIA had no evidence of the Austrian team breaching the regulations in such a way, the organization took action and agreed with the team from Milton Keynes to seal this system.
The team principal of the team from Milton Keynes, Christian Horner, dismissed all the concerns and speculations during an interview with Sky Sports, where he said:
"Every car has a tool that they can adjust the front of the bib. Ours is located at the front, in front of the footwell. It's been there for, I think, over three years. You've got to have the pedals out, other panels and pipe work out in order to be able to get to it."
"So it's like any other adjustment on the car it would be easier to adjust the rear roll bar than it would be to get to that component."
The CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, pointed out that while all F1 teams have such a system, Red Bull is the only one that has it inside the car, and all the other nine have it outside.
Brown also asked why FIA and Red Bull agreed to seal the system if it cannot even be reached once the car is fully assembled (which is what Red Bull's spokesperson said). To that, Horner replied:
"Because I think there's been a bit of moaning from one of our rivals. It's the FIA's job to look into these things."
"It's on a list of the open source components, so it's been publicly available for the last three years. The FIA are happy with it. I think it's just to satisfy perhaps some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock."
While Horner cannot believe why there is so much fuss around this system, he suggested it might be just some other F1 teams trying to put the attention away from themselves.
"I feel that it's sometimes to distract from perhaps what's going on in your own house, then sometimes you try and light a fire somewhere else."
"There was an awful lot of noise about rear wings. McLaren had to change their rear wing yesterday."
"Our car has come under more scrutiny in the last three years than any other car in the pit lane, so we're totally comfortable."
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