22/10/2024
NEWS STORY
Despite the best efforts of the FIA and Red Bull to make the saga go away, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff describes the Austrian team's ride height device as "outrageous".
His comment come as Zak Brown refuses to let the issue go, despite the FIA's insistence that there is basically 'nothing to see here'.
Indeed, despite the claim that the device - which alters the cars' ride height - was of no real benefit, there are claims that it has been on the Austrian team's cars for the last three seasons, consequently Brown has called on engineers and mechanics at the team, including those that have left recently, to sign affidavits.
"I'd like to see the senior leadership, the former chief mechanics and the current mechanics sign an affidavit stating that they have never used or have no knowledge of it being used," he told the Daily Mail.
"The suggestion in the pit lane from a handful of people is that it has been used in that manner, so the only way to bottom it out is the old-fashioned 'sign here', stating what has gone on," he added.
"I know if I was presented with an affidavit and the consequences of not telling the truth were severe, I'd tell the truth.
"I am confident the matter is dealt with going forward. But if they have done it in the past, there is no grey area about it. Modifying your car in parc ferme is as clear a breach of the regulations as possible."
"My view is, from the distance of what I've seen and what I've heard, it's outrageous," said Wolff of the device which was only revealed as a result of open-source documents on an FIA server which is available to all the teams.
"We're all designing parts that are Formula 1 standard, that are to the highest specifications," added the Austrian, "we design parts that are within the regulations.
"Sometimes on things like aeroelasticity, you would probably try to go as far as you can," he admitted, "but there's other things overall, certain parts where you would question why they exist."