“Front wing of Mercedes is the most wobbly candidate”– Red Bull boss Helmut Marko has confirmed that they aren’t afraid of Mercedes’ threats.
Red Bull is confident that Mercedes isn’t likely to raise a protest in Baku, even though Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has reiterated his further plan of action.
With a new test to be conducted after the Azerbaijan GP, Red Bull are free to use their bendy wings, which Mercedes find problematic, and Wolff has threatened to protest to stewards if their rival appears in their current state.
But Red Bull chief Helmut Marko is not afraid of these threats, as he claims that Mercedes would have to go against eight teams on the grid and have pointed out the Brackley-based team’s suspicious front wings.
“Mercedes would have to protest against eight cars,” Marko explained to F1-Insider.com. “Because in addition to us, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Alpine are also affected. Do you really want to do that and cause a major scandal? I do not think so.”
“We expect that the tests for the front wing will now also be tightened, that’s just fair. Because especially the front wing of Mercedes is the most wobbly candidate in this area. In any case, there is also potential for protest.”
Everyone will end up protesting
Marko claims that his team thoroughly analysed the front wing of Mercedes, and it is flexing like any other team, so in the end, they would be in a problem too.
“We’ve analysed the front wings and they are bending exactly the same way [as] the Red Bull and the Mercedes wing so we could be protesting each other on the front wing also.
“But it’s clear that the rear wing bends more than it should. Under the rules, it has been classified as non-conformant, but we are left in a vacuum where a new test will be introduced after Baku.”
“So, it is what it is but we have played it pretty robust in our legal position and it’s just an advantage. In Formula 1, it is part of the game that the teams look carefully when the competition has something special about the car,” Marko explained.
“We did that when Mercedes came around the corner with the innovative DAS system last year. The FIA has declared the system illegal, but they were still allowed to use it until the last race.”
“We accepted that. Why doesn’t Mercedes now accept that the same thing is done with our rear wing? “
