A quote from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner appeared in Auto Motor Und Sport on Thursday, saying he had doubts about the legality of the Mercedes sidepods, suggesting they were not within the “spirit of the regulations”.
Mercedes showed up at pre-season testing in Bahrain with innovative sidepods that caught the attention of everyone involved in Formula 1, and prompted several teams to ask the FIA for clarification on the car’s design.
Red Bull would later deny that Horner had spoken to the media about this, before later clarifying that nothing had been said as an official statement.
Horner spoke publicly for the first time about Mercedes’ novel design on Friday, clarifying that his team’s latest analysis was that the pontoon was fully compliant with the regulations.
“Mercedes has come up with an extreme [solution], it’s a different interpretation,” Horner explained.
“But to answer your next question, do we think it’s legal or not? Yes, absolutely. It seems like it ticks all the boxes.”
Asked why he had changed his tune following comments made to journalist Michael Schmidt, Horner said: “Well, I think comments have been quoted that weren’t really made.”
“I think 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.
Meanwhile, other teams, such as Ferrari, have recognized that some facets of Mercedes’ design push the wording of the regulations to the limit, such as the design around the mirror area. However, Horner downplayed even the idea that they go against the spirit of the regulations.
“In reality there is nothing that defines the spirit of the regulation, or it is fulfilled or it is not fulfilled,” added Horner.
“It is something that is not for us to judge. The FIA has access to all the plans. Such a design would surely have been presented in advance.”
“So it’s an interesting concept. It’s a radical concept. So is it fast or not? Only time will tell, but as far as enforcement is concerned, that’s very much an FIA question.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has been clear from the moment the sidepods were revealed, saying he was never worried that there would be any question about the legality of the solution.
“The process is very clear, when you go in a specific development direction with your team, having the FIA as part of the scrutiny, you are exchanging CAD data and making it part of the process,” he said in Bahrain.
