The Red Bull “Tray” Case
Now the words spoken by Nikolas Tombazis during the Singapore weekend take on a whole new meaning. The FIA engineer responsible for technical regulations had said that “all teams, including those who are complaining today, have benefited from the (cautious, ed.) approach of the Federation.” The specific case was about McLaren’s mini-DRS, but now it’s hard not to see a parallel with the T-Tray case that heated up the paddock of the U.S. GP even before the engines were fired up. Through a spokesperson, Red Bull admitted to having a mysterious device in the car that alters the height of the “tray” and the entire front part of the floor, and that they had reached an agreement with the FIA to remove it without further consequences for the rest of the championship.
Legitimate Suspicions from F1 Rivals
The Milton Keynes team, of course, stopped there, specifying that the system exists but wouldn’t be operable “once the car is assembled and ready to race.” However, rivals inevitably protest: why bother installing a device that theoretically can change the ground clearance of the floor, circumventing parc fermé rules (with obvious advantages linked to changing the setup between qualifying and the race), if the same device cannot be activated? This is a question that the FIA or perhaps even Red Bull will have to answer, but it raises legitimate suspicions about the fairness of what we’ve seen this season and possibly in previous ones. It’s inevitable that the first to complain were McLaren’s two drivers, who are competing with Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ and Constructors’ titles.
Lando Norris Speaks
“One thing is having such a device in the car,” said Lando Norris in a press conference, “another is how it is used, which we have no idea about. So, if this system has indeed helped (Red Bull, ed.), then maybe the situation will shift in our favor. But that doesn’t mean they’ve won pole positions or races just because of the device, and I don’t think it will change much in the grand scheme of things.”
“But if you look at certain qualifying sessions,” continued Max Verstappen’s main rival, “and you look at the gap in some races this year, where the difference was just a few hundredths or even thousandths of a second in Q3, then you might think maybe this system helped them. I think it’s good that the FIA is doing something about this. There’s a difference between black-and-white situations like this and Formula 1 pushing boundaries by creating innovative things within the space allowed by the regulations.” This last remark clearly references McLaren’s work on the gray area of wing flexibility, which led the Woking engineers to develop the now infamous mini-DRS seen on the MCL38 at the Spa, Monza, and Baku GPs.
Oscar Piastri Sides with Lando
A point of view that Oscar Piastri also agreed with: “Obviously, we’re all pushing the limits of the technical regulations. This is what has always defined F1. From what I’ve heard, though, something like this isn’t pushing the limits… It’s clearly breaking them. If it was used, it’s clear that whoever did it hasn’t just pushed the limits but has crossed from the gray area into a black one. Our mini-DRS was legal. Even though we had to make some changes, it wasn’t revolutionary for the car. We’ll see if this thing has any impact.” – the Australian driver concluded ahead of the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
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