Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the FIA has taken action on his team’s cars to “perhaps satisfy some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock”.
The big talking point at the United States Grand Prix surrounds Red Bull’s car after McLaren were among rival teams who suspected a device on the RB20 could enable the world champions to advantageously change their car’s ride height via the ‘bib’ at the front of the floor when in restricted ‘parc ferme’ conditions, which would be in breach of the sport’s regulations.
While confirming the existence of the device, Red Bull said it could not be used for anything untoward as it is not accessible to use when the car is fully built.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown told Sky Sports F1 that Red Bull’s explanation “doesn’t stack up” and that he would expect “massive consequences” if they were found to have been using it illegally.
Prior to Max Verstappen taking pole for Saturday’s Sprint in Austin, Horner said the FIA was “totally happy” with the situation and his team’s explanations about the device.
Asked in an interview with Sky Sports why the governing body still wanted to add seals to the bib adjuster this weekend in Austin, Horner, in apparent reference to McLaren, replied: “I think there’s been a bit of moaning from one of our rivals.
“And 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, just to satisfy perhaps some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock.”
Horner added: “I feel that it’s sometimes to distract from perhaps what’s going on in your own house, then sometimes you try to light a fire somewhere else?”
Following the only practice session in Austin on Friday, Red Bull appeared to perform a demonstration of how the device operates for two FIA officials in their garage. A governing body spokesperson said they were “checking that all the cars comply with our new requirement”.
“Every car has a tool that they can adjust what we call the front of the floor, being the bib, and ours is located at the front in front of the footwell. It has been there I think for over three years,” said Horner.
“You’ve got to have the pedals out, other panels and pipework out in order to get to it.
“So it’s like any other adjustment on the car. It would be easier to adjust a rear roll bar than it is to get to that component.
“It’s all part of the packaging in the front end of the chassis.”
Horner: Red Bull had conversation with FIA in Singapore
The controversy comes with just six rounds to go in the 2024 F1 season, with Verstappen leading Lando Norris by 52 points in the Drivers’ Championship, and two races after McLaren were asked by the FIA to alter a ‘mini-DRS’ rear wing device on their car at last month’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
McLaren are 41 points ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship and Horner says “there will be other stuff that comes up between now and Abu Dhabi”, the last race of the season in December.
“We are at the start of a triple-header. They could have mentioned it three weeks ago,” added Horner.
“But it’s a conversation we actually had with the FIA in Singapore and they have looked at it, they are more than happy with it, totally happy with it.
“To explain to the public, there are probably 600 items on the car that are fully adjustable. Everyone can adjust these elements.
“What you can’t do is adjust them during parc ferme. That is what hasn’t happened. It would be easier to adjust a floor stay, or a roll bar, or a push rod length, then strip out the pedals.
“We have cameras watching the cars, we have scrutineers and witnesses watching the cars. Our car has come under more scrutiny in the last three years than any other car in the pit lane, so we are totally comfortable.”
FIA director Tombazis: No proof of anything untoward in the past
The Red Bull front bib, or T-Tray, story blew up on Wednesday when the FIA confirmed that it had been made aware by some teams of the presence of a ride-height-altering device on a rival’s car.
The governing body made clear the use of any such device under parc ferme conditions would be against the regulations and that it was altering its procedures from Austin to make sure no such systems were being used.
On Thursday, Norris said the device could have aided Verstappen this season if Red Bull were exploiting it.
“I think it’s certainly not a story from now on. I think we’ve done all that’s needed to stop there being any accusations,” said FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis.
“Of course, it is a tight championship and people get rather excited about each other’s cars. And so we can’t definitively close the previous races or any insinuations there may be between teams in a very competitive environment, but in the present situation we believe it’s a non-story.”
Asked if it was possible to go back to previous events and check CCTV footage to see if Red Bull had broken any rules, he answered: “Honestly, no. We are talking really something like a couple of millimetres or something like that potentially, we’re really talking very small numbers.
“I don’t think it’s something we could go and check. But we don’t have any indication or proof or anything like that about something untoward having happened before.”
Sky Sports F1’s live United States GP schedule
Saturday October 19
6pm: United States GP Sprint build-up
7pm: United States GP Sprint
8.30pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
10pm: United States GP Qualifying build-up*
11pm: United States GP Qualifying*
(Sunday) 1am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday October 20
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction
11pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Sunday’s race build-up from 7.15pm)
Watch the whole United States GP Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime