• Belgian Grand Prix

No changes to Red Bull wing for Spa

ESPNF1 Staff
August 27, 2010 « Schumacher relishing prospect of Spa fightback | »
Red Bull will run the same front wing it used in Hungary at Spa © Sutton Images
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Red Bull is using an unchanged front wing at Spa Francorchamps, but the floor of the RB6 might soon have to be tweaked to satisfy tougher FIA scrutineering tests.

The front wing flexibility test was altered for Belgium, essentially to ensure that wings are bending downwards only in a linear fashion when weights are proportionately applied. Red Bull boss Christian Horner said these tests had not necessitated a design change since the car dominated in Hungary, but it has emerged at Spa that the FIA also has its eye on other aspects of alleged flexing.

Another theory is that the RB6 is getting its wing endplates close to the ground by having a flexing floor that allows the nose of the car to dip. Tweaked floor flexibility tests, and new rules stipulating the amount of breaks or joins allowed underneath the cars, will reportedly be applied as of the Italian grand prix at Monza next month.

"I cannot say whether we will be affected more or less than any other team," Horner said on Thursday.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said the existing floor tests involved applying 200 kilograms to the front of the floor, allowing flexibility of no more than 5mm. At Monza, the new tests will reportedly involve additional loads being applied at several locations underneath the cars as well.

"Webber said in an interview a couple of weeks ago that if you have a very special device on the car, people should have to build their own," Jenson Button said on Thursday. "I didn't know they had a device on the car, so there you go. We'll see what happens here, and we'll see how their pace is compared to us."

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