Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have played down the benefit of the controversial ride height device found on the Red Bull.

While the FIA has dismissed talk of cheating by the Austrian team, the device, which allowed the driver to alter the ride height between qualifying and the race from within the cockpit, cleverly circumventing the rules, the team agreed to remove it from its cars.

"It's open source, right? Everyone can see it," said Max Verstappen. "For us, it was just an easy tool when the parts were off," he added.

"We know that it was easy to adjust, but once the whole car is built together, you can't touch it.

"For us, it doesn't change," he insisted. "When I read about it, I was thinking about other teams doing it, and then I found out it was related to our team. We never even mentioned it in the briefing, so it's just an easier tool to adjust stuff."

"There has been nothing that we were doing," added teammate Perez. "We never actually talked about it. It was impossible.

"If anything, for example, I remember here that last year it was a sprint event, so we ended up with the ride height close to the moon," he added. "It was completely out of it because we were concerned about something like what happened to Mercedes that could happen to us," he said, referring to the excessive wear to the underfloor planks that saw Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc disqualified.

"I think it is down to the FIA to draw a line whether it is legal or illegal," added the Mexican. "They are the ones who control the sport, so at the end of the day it is up to them to decide."

Of course, it was of no benefit, one has to wonder what it was doing on the cars in the first place.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 19/10/2024 7:25

"@Editor - Is it the case that this device allowed the driver to alter the ride height between qualifying and the race from within the cockpit, as it says in the article? My understanding is that this would be impossible. I’m sure I read somewhere that the pedals would have had to be removed in order to do so.

"

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2. Posted by Pavlo, 18/10/2024 19:31

"@MossMan - this sound the most logical.
Sounds like FIA has a suspicion, that the knob was actually accessible with some kind of a tool, and that it was actually used. It may be even true, but the problem is, if that area was not monitored (like the nosecone that is clearly visible), now there is absolutely no proof and no grounds to punish RB.
So practically FIA asked to move the part to place that can technically be sealed, RB agreed."

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3. Posted by Editor, 18/10/2024 15:26

"@ Celtic Tiger

In a sport where every gram of weight is accounted for...

Not forgetting every single dollar

"

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4. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 18/10/2024 14:50

"I agree completely with the sentiment of the last sentence.

In a sport where every gram of weight is accounted for, Red Bull have installed a... BGC (Beer Gut Clearance) Device? Sure mate, now pull the other one."

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5. Posted by MossMan, 18/10/2024 14:44

"(forgot to say: substitute "nosecone" for some other part which blocks it from the cockpit while in race trim)"

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6. Posted by MossMan, 18/10/2024 14:41

"I'm not sure it would be cheating, necessarily. They could be talking about something like a knob to set the height without needing a wrench or spanner, but that knob is covered by the nosecone.

So it's a convenience while setting up the car, adds minimal weight and is not driver-accessible in race trim. Something like that seems plausible to me."

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7. Posted by Wokingchap, 18/10/2024 13:33

"Quite........ last paragraph sums it up nicely.
CHEATS."

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Red Bull pair deny ride height 'cheat' was advantageous

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