• German Grand Prix

FIA declares Red Bull and Ferrari front wings legal

ESPNF1 Staff
July 26, 2010 « Ferrari will not appeal fine | »
The front wing of the Red Bull supposedly flexed at high speeds © Sutton Images
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The FIA's Jo Bauer on Sunday eased a burgeoning controversy about flexible front wings.

Before the German grand prix, team boss Christian Horner fended off new rumours about Red Bull's front wing - the one infamously switched between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel at Silverstone two weeks ago. Both RB6s ran the new wing specification throughout the Hockenheim weekend, where photographs of its extremities bending towards the ground did the rounds in rival team garages.

In-car video footage of the Red Bull appeared to support the claims, while the photographs also depicted a bending wing on the Ferrari.

"On the pictures I was shown this morning, I - nor our engineers - can explain what ... it looks unusual," McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said.

But shortly after Sunday's race, FIA technical delegate Bauer issued a statement saying the Red Bull and Ferrari wings had passed rules tests. Whitmarsh suggested that, if legal, the other teams will be looking into copying the front wing solution.

"If it is [achieved] by some clever and legitimate way, then we need to learn it very quickly," said the McLaren team principal.

But like Horner, Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali denied that the photographs are evidence of illegal flexing.

"I've seen some pictures of the wing, but you could see that they were taken from very different angles. So, I don't have anything to say on that. I feel that is part of the pressure that is part of the game," said the Italian.

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