Horner: 'If Red Bull sees it here, we will protest against Mercedes'
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- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing sources told GPblog.com last week that the Austrian team is keeping an eye on Mercedes' rear wing and moving steering column. Christian Horner gave an update at the press conference between the first and second free practice for the Qatar Grand Prix.
Analyzing Mercedes' W12
"We will follow the situation and depends on what happens this weekend and what we see. It's even more pertinent to the circuits that follow," Horner said at the press conference. The Milton Keynes-based team decided not to protest against the final result and the W12 in Brazil, but he does not want to rule that out for the final three Grands Prix this season.
Mercedes and Red Bull will be keeping a constant eye on each other's bolides in 2021. "Mercedes have paid a lot of attention to our car through the season and we are doing the same. We want to make attention its equal playing field."
When asked if there is a suspicion that Mercedes are doing something with its rear wing that creates less air resistance, which allows for higher speeds even without DRS, Horner replied: "Yes. There's specific regulations about this. The directives that came out prior to Baku had material effect. This is something even more advanced, hidden in the way that it operates. Harder to spot with a camera. You can see straight line performance since Hungary and the last two Grands Prix has gone exponential."
Red Bull fears
He continued on Sky Sports: "That concerns us, that's why Adrian [Newey] and Paul [Monaghan] have been discussing it with the FIA. If we see it on the car here, it will be protested. It'll have less than an impact here, but particularly Jeddah and Abu Dhabi you could have a situation that is unraceable."