Red Bull's rear wing illegal? 'That's the only reason it's being looked at'

From the French Grand Prix onwards, new tests will be introduced by the FIA to test the flexibility of the rear wing. This comes after remarks by Lewis Hamilton in Spain that the rear wing of Max Verstappen would move on the straight.

Red Bull does better

According to the regulations, parts of the car are not allowed to move, as this could give aerodynamic advantages. The FIA announced new tests starting from the race in France, allowing teams to make adjustments to their current design. Red Bull Racing is not worried and is confident that the RB16B will pass all tests.

According to F1 journalist Mark Hughes, the flexible rear wing is now only being looked at because Red Bull is doing better than Mercedes. "It's the teams' job to get around the rules a bit, that's exactly what they should all be doing," Hughes discussed in the F1 Podcast of The Race. "It won't just be Red Bull trying to do this, Mercedes will do it too."

Current test unsuitable

Hughes said the current test was unsuitable for testing flexibility. "You can't test the pressure that occurs at high speed with such a static test", says Hughes. "And how do you regulate what a team's intentions are when a wing bends beyond the allowable limit? Each team would then want to design a structure that passes the test, but bends at a pressure higher than in the test."

No change in ranking

Should the FIA take action against Red Bull's rear wing, Hughes doesn't think anything is going to change in the current ranking. Mercedes seem to be in the lead at the moment, but according to Hughes that is not the case. "It now looks like Mercedes started with a deficit in Bahrain, but then made up for it in the races after. Only would that be the case if the order of circuits had been reversed?"