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Red Bull thinks Mercedes’ Formula 1 car looks “absolutely” legal and “like it ticks all the boxes”, team boss Christian Horner says.
A substantial upgrade to the Mercedes W13 broke cover on Thursday at the beginning of the Bahrain test, drawing huge attention from rival teams.
The sidepods themselves have significantly narrowed at the front with the bodywork effectively shrink-wrapped. This is to minimise the airflow blockage down the side of the car.
Mercedes has also used the shroud housing the upper Side Impact Protection system (SIPS) as the mounting for the wing mirror, and the shroud is also heavily aero profiled to work with the rest of the sidepods.
The design also features a series of vanes mounted vertically on the shroud below the mirror.
After Mercedes’ upgrades broke cover on Thursday, the respected Auto Motor und Sport journalist Michael Schmidt quoted Horner as suggesting it was illegal and against the spirit of the rules.
Questions were also raised about the wing mirror position and supports of the upgraded Mercedes, which were changed as part of the new sidepod for this test, by Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto.
He described the Mercedes design as looking “like spaceships” and suggested that they were primarily an aero part rather than mounting the wing mirror.
While there appears not to be anything in the rules that precludes this, Binotto hinted it might not be within the spirit of the regulations.
“I think it’s interesting,” said Horner of the Mercedes W13 on Friday.
“It’s very innovative what Mercedes have come up with. It’s quite a different concept to certainly the concept that we pursued and I think some of the others have.
“It shows the creativity that exists even within constrictive regulations in Formula 1 that very different solutions are coming out now.
“Whether it’s the right route, or whatever, only time will tell and I think what we see in Formula 1 is that there tends to be convergence over a period of time on design philosophies.
“But what’s so good about this sport is you get a clean sheet of paper, you get 10 different interpretations.
“Mercedes have come up with an extreme one that’s a different interpretation.
“But to answer your next question of whether we think is legal or not, yes absolutely.
“It looks like it ticks all the boxes.”
After Horner’s quote to Schmidt circulated on Thursday, Red Bull moved to claim Horner had not spoken with any media or made any comments about the Mercedes car, then released a formal statement in which it said: “Christian Horner has not given any interviews regarding Mercedes’ car. Any quotes being attributed to him this morning are incorrect.”
That was subsequently softened to the team indicating it had made no official comment regarding Mercedes’ car and would not be doing so.
Horner said on Friday: “Well, I think comments have been quoted that certainly weren’t made.
“And I think that the car is obviously innovative. It’s an interesting solution.
“As far as we’re concerned the Mercedes car looks like it complies with the regulations.
“It’s just a different interpretation, a different solution.”
