Adrian Newey, Chief Technical Officer of Red Bull, sees it as a “compliment” when teams like Mercedes feel the need to wonder why they are so fast this season while Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight for the world title this season .
The two title protagonists argued over various topics throughout the season, not to forget the topic of “Flexi-Wings”, a topic that plagued the first half of the season.
A handful of teams, including Red Bull, have come under fire around their so-called “bendy wing” after Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton claimed that their opponents used a “bendy” rear wing at the Spanish Grand Prix, giving them an advantage over the straight one.
“The Red Bulls are really fast on the straights,” he told Sky Sports F1. “They have that pliable wing on the back of their car that they put on today and they won at least three-tenths.”
Red Bull denied that there was anything illegal about their car, and team principal Christian Horner insisted that the rear wings of their cars passed rigorous tests and were completely legal.
However, the FIA stepped in and introduced new tests to curb illegal wing movements.
“In many ways, it is a compliment to the team to put us under the microscope from others,” said Newey in an interview published on the Red Bull website.
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“We’ve seen this before, but I can’t remember seeing the same level of politics and lobbying against our car behind the scenes.
“If you look back when we researched aeroelasticity in 2010/2011, we may have been constantly on the test bench and adapted to every changing set of rules.
“We have been here before in the last championship fights with Ferrari, which also included some disputes about the flexibility of the body.”
Newey added, “I never particularly like the war analogy – but it’s a decent analogy and you have to look at every aspect to improve your competitive position.
“That’s the nature of Formula One and one of the things that makes it so exciting, but it’s the frequency and intensity of this year that is very enlightening.”
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Ferrari, Alpine and Alfa Romeo were other teams who admitted they had to modify their cars to pass the new FIA rear wing tests.
But Newey added that it was interesting that Mercedes seemed less concerned about others on the grid, adding how pleased he was with the team’s handling of the situation.
“If you take the flexible rear wing problem, we certainly weren’t the only team that had this problem, but of course when Mercedes started making noise they weren’t worried about what Alfa was doing,” Newey said.
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