Red Bull "know" Mercedes rear-wing trick - Christian Horner

São Paulo Grand Prix

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Red Bull "know" Mercedes rear-wing trick - Horner

Horner claimed Mercedes has a 27kmph straight-line advantage in Brazil

Sam Hall

Sunday 14 November 2021 09:15

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Christian Horner has claimed Red Bull "know" Mercedes rear-wing trick that has unlocked increased straight-line speed.

Lewis Hamilton made the most of Mercedes' pace advantage and a fresh internal combustion engine [ICE] to power through the field from last to fifth in the 24-lap sprint at Interlagos on Saturday ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix.

Asked by Sky Sports F1 how Red Bull would work to discover what the advantage is, Horner stated: “We very clearly know what it is.

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“Obviously, it’s something that is enabling the car to do that kind of speed that something must happen because physics wouldn’t allow…the kind of horsepower delta you would need to achieve that would be pretty significant.

“So we’re obviously trying to understand what it is and go from there.”

Red Bull back FIA to police the rules

Although Horner confirmed Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey visited the FIA stewards on Friday with regard to Mercedes' rear wing, there was no indication the team intends to launch a protest at this late stage of the season.

Reminded of Mercedes' protest against Red Bull's flexi-wing earlier in the year, however, Horner grinned: “But that’s Formula 1 isn’t it.

"Our rear wing, a technical directive came out that changed the testing procedure around that and obviously the wing was revised accordingly.

“Maybe we need another change to the tests. There are a bunch of clever engineers…that’s Formula 1. That is what the business is all about.

“As I say, it is something that we have seen for a little while but it’s down to the FIA to police. The rules are quite concise, they are ever more restrictive.

“So it is something we will keep an eye on because particularly with Lewis, that was just in a different league. He was 27 kilometres per hour faster than Lando [Norris] when he passed him, which is another Formula."