After Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton noticed at the Spanish Grand Prix last month that Red Bull had a “bendy wing” on the rear of the car, the FIA began to fight the rule gap by introducing new rigidity tests from France .
Red Bull regularly hits Mercedes back during the Flexi-Wings debate, saying that if its rear wing is subject to an inspection, the front wing of the Mercedes W12 must also be examined.
The crackdown on rules didn’t seem to affect Red Bull’s performance in France as Verstappen took his third win of the season and increased his lead over Hamilton at the top of the drivers’ standings to 12 points.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner asked in France why the FIA’s stiffness tests did not also apply to the front wing. The team assumes “that it will also do with the front at some point”.
Before the Styrian Grand Prix this weekend, Verstappen said the win in France “shows everything was done right” by Red Bull, but agreed that testing should be extended to the front wing as well.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st place, in the press conference
Photo by: FIA Pool
“I think if you check the rear wing you should also check the front wing,” Verstappen said.
“Because I think the front wing has a bigger impact on the car. It is of course up to the FIA to carry out these checks.
“Of course they checked the rear wing, so it’s up to them.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez agreed that “it is the FIA’s job to do all of this research,” and felt that the front wing had a greater impact on the current generation of cars than the rear wing.
“As Max says, I think the front of a Formula 1 car is definitely a lot stronger than the rear wing these days,” said Perez.
“It’s really up to them, and they have all the information I suspect.”
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