Red Bull question the legality of front wings of Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren: Reports

Red Bull have questioned the legality of the flexible front wings of their rivals according to a report by Auto Motor Und Sport (AMuS). The German publication suggested Milton Keynes are poised to bring a similar flexible front wing after witnessing their rivals escape the FIA radar.

After the Canadian GP, Red Bull reportedly formally requested the FIA to investigate the Mercedes front wing. The Silver Arrows squad brought a new front wing to the Monaco GP, which is the legal version of the flexible front wings, that were banned after a technical directive passed in 2023. Having had a troublesome start to the season, the new Mercedes front wing has said two benefitted them immensely, particularly at the Monaco and Canadian race weekends.

According to AMuS, Red Bull tried to rally Aston Martin's protest against their rivals but the Silverstone team declined and is suspected to be working on a similar flexible front wing. The German publication also suggested that Red Bull are suspicious of both Ferrari and McLaren’s front wings. With complex technical regulations, F1 teams have always played within the loopholes of the regulations or maneuvered around them to produce innovative solutions for their cars.

An engineer from the F1 paddock spoke to Michael Schmidt of AMuS, saying:

“Everyone has their own methods. Some tilt the flaps backwards, others twist the whole wing or lower the wing tips.

Explaining the dilemma with the modern F1 cars and the regulations, Mercedes chief engineer Andrew Shovlin explained:

“The rear was so high in the par that you straightened it over a lot of travel while driving. So you have determined with the wing position how the underbody works. This gave us a lot of leeway to tune the balance over one round. Now everything is more limited and there are more compromises in this narrow window.”

According to AMuS a Red Bull insider spoke about the situation with their rival’s front wings saying:

“If this is further tolerated, we have to go the same way.”

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Max Verstappen is cautiously optimistic about the Red Bull car ahead of the Spanish GP

While most experts and pundits in the paddock predict Red Bull to run away with the lead and dominate the Spanish GP, Max Verstappen was cautiously optimistic. The Dutchman reckoned that they have a lot of issues with their car, after their difficult weekend in both Monaco and Canada.

His woes in Monaco were related to the bumpy surface of the circuit where the car was bottoming out, leading to a drop in performance. In Canada, the reigning champion had issues with the ERS (Energy Recovery System) of the power unit in FP1 and a drop in pace in the rest of the sessions.

Although he matched the pole position time in a wet qualifying, it took some well-executed pitstop strategy and luck to clinch the win in the race. Nevertheless, the Achilles heel tends to be the bumpy circuits with abrasive asphalt and circuits where there is a need to ride the kerbs.

Speaking to select media including Racing News 365, Verstappen hoped for their issues to be resolved saying:

“I hope so, yes. The last few races were quite difficult, but it didn't stop there. There were also a lot of problems during the weekend, so we are hoping for a Spanish Grand Prix weekend without too many problems.”

“Of course, the problem with the kerbstones is something we haven't got under control, so that makes it very difficult. The same goes for the problems with the bumps. So there is really work to do in the hope that we can improve the car in that respect as well. We also really do hope that we can pick up a big margin if we can get that problem under control.”

Red Bull’s performance issues could be circuit-specific but there could be a lot of circuits on the calendar where they might not dominate. With two teams chasing them for the championship, circuits like Spain, Silverstone, Belgium, Monza, Mexico, Brazil, and Abu Dhabi could play in their favor.

However, circuits like Austria, Zandvoort, Hungary, Singapore, Baku, Austin and Las Vegas could be a struggle for the Milton Keynes squad. In the Constructors standings, they are 49 points ahead of Ferrari and 89 points ahead of McLaren. In the Drivers standings, Verstappen is 56 points ahead of Charles Leclerc and 63 points ahead of Lando Norris.