Ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, it emerged that Red Bull had made a request to the FIA regarding a possible “trick” that Mercedes believes is pulling through its engine’s sensors that monitor the engine’s intake air temperatures.
Red Bull has asked the FIA to check the Mercedes unit to make sure it is not taking an unfair advantage from the engine cooling. The F1 regulations state that the air temperature in the plenum must be at least 10 degrees above the external ambient temperature, which is monitored by FIA sensors.
Mercedes and Red Bull are in an intense battle for supremacy in the 2021 title race, and the latest query follows a number of previous Mercedes camp allegations against Red Bull regarding flexi wings and pit stop times.
“We love the fact that they spend time doing these things and researching, and we very much appreciate any intuition they do and then want to look at,” Wolff told Sky.
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“If that’s a distraction for the other teams, that’s good.”
In a press conference later on Friday in Zandvoort, Wolff announced that he had first heard of Red Bull’s request “a few days ago”.
“I wish we had a special solution, but that’s the modus operandi in Formula 1, business as usual,” he added.
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“Inquiries are made to the FIA, questions are asked. That is completely normal. “
When asked about the reasons for the request, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: “Well, I think, as with all technical clarifications, they constantly go back and forth between all teams.
“These classifications are usually used to determine whether something is acceptable as a solution in the eyes of the governing body. If so, of course you will follow suit.
“But we had a lot of them with our car this year and I think that’s not just reserved for Red Bull and this topic is certainly not just reserved for Red Bull.
“This dialogue between the engineers, in their forums, in the technical working groups is an ongoing process. So I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise. “
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