© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says the updated Mercedes W13 is “absolutely” legal and denies he ever said otherwise.
Immediately after Mercedes unveiled their updated ‘zeropod’ 2022 car, Auto Motor und Sport reported that Christian Horner said Red Bull believed the car was illegal.
This was soon denied by Red Bull and by Horner himself, but AMuS insisted Horner did indeed say that.
Well, at the Friday team principals’ press conference in Bahrain, Horner definitely said Red Bull considers the updated Mercedes W13 to be legal.
“I think it is interesting,” the Briton said.
“It is very innovative what Mercedes has come up with. It is quite a different concept to what we have pursued and certainly some of the others have.
“It shows the creativity that exists even within restrictive regulations in Formula 1 that very different solutions can come out.
“Now whether it is the right route, time will tell. What we see in Formula 1 is there tends to be convergence over a period time of design philosophies.
“But what is so good about this sport is you get a clean sheet of paper and you get 10 different interpretations.
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“Mercedes have come up with an extreme one that is a different interpretation but to answer whether we think it is legal or not, yes, absolutely. It looks like it ticks all the boxes.”
Then Horner again denied that he ever said the car was not legal.
“Well, I think comments have been quoted that certainly weren’t made. The car is obviously innovative, it is an interesting solution.
“As far as we are concerned, the Mercedes car looks like it complied with the regulations. It is just a different interpretation and a different solution.”
When asked if he believes Mercedes’ car complies with the “spirit of the regulations”, Horner said it is up to the FIA to judge.
“There is not really anything that defines the spirit of the regulations, it either complies or it doesn’t.
“It is not really for us to judge. The FIA has access to all of the drawings. A design like that would have surely been submitted in advance.
“It is an interesting concept, a radical concept,” the Briton concluded.
