Horner insists ‘bendy’ Red Bull F1 wing Hamilton spotted is legal

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner insists that the RB16B’s rear-wing design does not contravene Formula 1 regulations.
Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing RB16B.
Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing RB16B.
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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton revealed he ha🃏d noticed Red Bull’s rear-wing flexing at high-speed during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend and suggested it could be worth up to three-tenths of a second in lap time.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying, the seve🐟n-time world champion commented: “The Red Bulls are really fast on the straights.

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“They have this bendy wing on the back༺ of their 🍨car which they put on today and they gained at least three tenths from this wing.

“So they will be quicker down the straights than us and it will ✅be hard to keep them behind, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible.”

Teams including Red Bull have⛦ used aeroelasticity in the past to find straight-line speed gains but the FIA has stringent load tests that must be passed which detect any adverse rear flex on the wings.

Asked about Hamilton’s comments after Max Verstappen finished second to the Briton in Sunday’s race, Horner𝔍 categorically denied that the team’sಌ car features any component that breaks the rules.

Horner also insinuated that Hamilton had been toldꦰ to bring up the so-called 𒉰“bendy” wing by Mercedes.

“Of course the cars are scrutineered thoroughly and there's pullꦡ back tests, there's all kinds of different tests it has to pass,” Hoꦕrner said.

“The FIA are completely꧙ happy with the car, that it has passed all of those tests that are pretty str꧑ingent.

“So I was surprised to see his comments on that but it's something that Toto has mention🔜ed to me previously. I doubt it wܫas Lewis's opinion, it probably came from elsewhere.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was tight-lipped on the subjectܫ when asked for ꦜa response to Horner’s suggestion he had encouraged Hamilton to mention it.

"It’s 🅰good fun,” Wolff said. “We discussed it, but everybody’s…let 🍬me not comment.”

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