19/10/2024
NEWS STORY
Despite Zak Brown's claims to the contrary, the FIA's head of single seaters, Nikolas Tombazis insists that the ride height device on the RB20 is a "non-story".
In the days leading up to this weekend's United States Grand Prix, after the issue was first raised in Singapore, Red Bull, having met with the FIA, removed the device which allows the front ride height to be changed, something that would be highly beneficial is used between qualifying and the race when different set-ups are required.
Speaking at Friday's press conference, McLaren boss, Zak Brown admitted that he remained concerned.
"Typically being able to run a car lower is a competitive advantage," he said. "It makes the car quicker, most of the time.
"The FIA, who I think have done a very good job of identifying an element from a single race team, from what we can see, from having looked at all the open source components, it's the only team that has the ability to adjust the ride height from inside the cockpit. Whether they have or haven't, I have no idea, but having the ability to do it raises questions.
"It's very clear in the regulations and it's a material breach that if you modify your race car, anything that you didn't get permission on or driver comfort is very much against regulations. So they've decided, from what I've read, to put a seal on it.
"At the same time, I've heard from the team that you can't adjust it when the car is fully race prepped," he added, referring to the statement issued by Red Bull. "The car is not always fully race-prepped in Parc Fermé and Sunday morning. So I think that needs to be unpicked. And why do you need to put a seal on something that you can't get to in Parc Fermé or post-Parc Fermé conditions. So I still have questions that I need to better understand."
With doubt having previously been raised about McLaren's rear wing, Brown was asked if the ride height device was all part of a 'war of words'.
"Our rear wings passed every single test," he insisted. "We've made some small modifications, as have some others. So that's a non-issue.
"I think on the floor, if, and I say if, because I don't know, it's used in an inappropriate manner, then it is definitely a performance advantage. If it's not, then there's no performance advantage whatsoever. And I think that's what we just want to better understand."
In a bid to calm fears, the FIA has placed a seal on the part, asked if this puts his mind at rest or whether he wants the part changed, Brown said: "I don't know, because I'm not the most technical person in our racing team.
"I've got confidence that the FIA will resolve the issue. I understand they're having to modify and change their racing car for upcoming races. I'm not exactly sure when. So I'm confident in the FIA's ability to address it moving forward. And our questions are a bit more around what has maybe historically happened in understanding if it's been used in an inappropriate manner."
The American had previously warned that if Red Bull had breached the rules there would be "massive consequences", and he stands by that comment.
"I think if you breach the Parc Fermé rules that's a massive breach, and so there should be consequences," he said. "If that has happened, that would be ultimately up to the FIA.
"We've seen it in sport before. We've seen it in our sport. We've seen it in baseball. We've seen it in football. You know, these things do happen, so just put our trust in the FIA to address the issue moving forward.
"We're just asking questions, but it's up to the FIA as our regulator, who do a great job, to get on top of it and come up with a solution that is transparent and is satisfactory to all the teams. I think I'm not alone in our concerns for what we have seen and heard."
Indeed, the concern now appears to centre on 'historical usage' of the device.
"As long as the device has had the ability to be adjusted from inside the cockpit, I think is probably what needs to be reviewed," agreed Brown. However, when asked if he thought the drivers were capable of using the device from within the cockpit, the American replied: "No. No. They'd have to have very long arms to do that!"
At Red Bull, Christian Horner continued to play down the significance of the device.
"Every car has a tool that they can adjust the front of the bib, what we call the front of the floor being the bib," said the Briton. "Ours is located at the front, in front of the foot well. It's been there I think for over three years.
"You've got to have the pedals out, other panels and pipework out, in order to be able to get to it. It's like any other adjustment on the car," he added. "It would be easier to adjust a rear rollbar than it is to get to that component. It's all part of the packaging in the front end of the chassis.
"I think there's been a bit of moaning from one of our rivals," he continued. "And it's the FIA's job to look into these things.
"It's on a list of the open source components, it's been publicly available for the last three years. The FIA are happy with it. I think just to satisfy perhaps some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock."
Indeed, the FIA's head of single seaters, Nikolas Tombazis claims that it is a non-story.
"At the previous race, it was pointed out to us that certain designs could allow a change of the height of the front of the car, which some people call a bib, in parc ferme," he told Sky Sports. "We didn't have any indication or any proof that anybody was doing something like that, that would be clearly illegal under parc ferme regulations.
"But as I said, we didn't have any clear indication that somebody was doing such a thing, so we said from this race onwards, then there must be no possibility to do such a thing at all. So if a team has a design that would allow a quick change of that height, then it had to be sealed so they could not have access in parc ferme. I think all teams have adhered to that, and as far as we're concerned, that's reasonably under control."
Asked if that means the continuing hoo ha is a non-story, he replied: "I think it's certainly not a story from now on. I think we've done all that's needed to stop there being any accusations, and then of course it is a tight championship, and people get rather excited about each other's cars.
"So we can't definitively close the previous races or any insinuations between teams in a very competitive environment, but in the present situation, we believe it's a non-story, yes."