F1 News
Brown jokes about Red Bull ride height system: 'Drivers'd need long arms'
After Red Bull admitted to having a ride height adjustment system, and much debate about how much Red Bull could change their cars with it, the CEO of the Austrians' championship rival McLaren, Zak Brown, talked about the situation at lenght.
"Typically being able to run a car lower is a competitive advantage. That makes the car quicker most of the time. The FIA, who I think have done a very good job, have identified an element on a single race team. From what we can see from having looked at all the open-source components, it's the only team that has the ability to adjust the ride height from inside the cockpit. Whether they have or haven't, I have no idea," McLaren CEO Zak Brown began at the Friday press conference in Austin about the controversial front bib in the RB20.
According to the American, having the system inside the car raises the question what purpose does it serve, as the rest of the grid are not using this solution. "It's very clear in the regulations and it's a material breach that if you modify your race car, anything that you didn't get permission on or driver comfort is very much against regulations. So they've decided, from what I've read, to put a seal on it."
He continued: "And at the same time, I've heard from the team that you can't adjust it when the car is fully race-prepped in Parc Ferme on Sunday morning. So I think that needs to be unpicked. Why do you need to put a seal on something that you can't get to in Parc Ferme or post-Parc Ferme conditions? So I still have questions that I need to better understand."
Brown doesn't believe drivers could adjust ride height mid-Grand Prix
On Sky Sports a Red Bull engineer was showed as he unpicked the car in front of the FIA's delegates. According to Brown, it would be impossible for Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez to use the system as they are driving. "No, no, they have to have…very long arms," he laughed.
'Trust the FIA'
Zak Brown believes that is now up to the autosport federation to draw their verdict. "I've got confidence that the FIA will resolve the issue. I understand they're having to modify and change their racing car for upcoming races, I'm not exactly sure when, so I'm confident in the FIA’s ability to address it moving forward. Our questions are a bit more around what has, maybe, historically happened in understanding if it's been used in an inappropriate manner."
"I think if you breach the Parc Ferme rules, that's a massive breach, and so, there should be consequences if that has happened, and that would be ultimately up to the FIA."
"We've seen it in sport before. We've seen it in our sport, we've seen it in baseball, we've seen it in football. These things do happen. So, just put our trust in the FIA to address the issue moving forward. We're just asking questions, but it's up to the FIA as our regulator, who do do a great job, to get on top of it and come up with a solution that is transparent and satisfactory to all the teams. I think I'm not alone in our concerns for what we have seen and heard," the American backed the federation.
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