Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has angrily dismissed claims that his team’s front wing was modified for Spa and that it contributed to their relative lack of pace.
The Milton Keynes’ team’s wing has been the subject of continued speculation, particularly from rivals McLaren, that it flexed too much.
The wing has passed all FIA tests it has been subjected to, but with a more rigorous test introduced at Spa, some believed it had been strengthened.
“I think the circuit characteristics suited us in Spa and that Red Bull’s pace was affected by the new tests,” McLaren driver Jenson Button told the Daily Telegraph.
“I hope the new, even more stringent tests for Monza will have even more of an effect. They [Red Bull] say they won’t have to change anything but they said that here. Watching the car here on the track it was not flexing as much.”
But Horner denied they had modified the wing, saying that it might have been McLaren who had found the extra pace themselves.
“I can categorically tell you that they are the same wings that ran in Hungary a month ago,” he said. “Whether that is the same for our competitors I can’t say but I would be very interested to know – and you might find it was a silver wing that was most flexible this weekend.”
Red Bull’s outright pace was surprisingly inferior to McLaren’s at Spa, even accounting for circuit characteristics. With the possible exception of the upcoming Monza race, Red Bull are confident of being superior at the remaining tracks in this year’s championship.
“Hungary was a circuit that played to the strengths of our car – no straights and lots of corners,” Horner is quoted as saying by Autosport. “At Spa there were not many corners and very long straight sectors.”
“Singapore should be good for us, Japan should be good for us, Korea should be okay for us. We know Spa and Monza will be McLaren territory, and we just have to limit the damage as we did with Mark in Belgium. To come away with a second place was a very big result for us.”
