Horner unfazed by Monza floor tests
Date published : 01 Sep 2010 - 17:32:09
Christian Horner has claimed the revised floor tests to be introduced at Monza next week will have bigger implications for rival teams than his own Red Bull squad.The FIA implemented more stringent front wing tests at last weekend's Spa round following accusations that the front wings on the Red Bull RB6 and Ferrari F10 were flexing more than the regulations permit. It subsequently emerged that the governing body would also be introducing a second wave of revised tests and regulations concerning the floor for the following round in Italy, amid suggestions that front wings were indirectly being lowered through the chassis floor flexing at speed.RBR has consistently insisted it hadn't been forced to make any changes to the front wing it raced in Hungary, and its RB6 duly passed the revised deflection requirements after Friday practice in Belgium.Attention has now turned to the Monza front floor tests, which are believed to be likely to affect most teams, but Horner predicted they would be no problem for Red Bull while mischievously suggesting the front wings on rival cars had been flexing more than the RB6's at Spa.I think it will affect other teams, the RBR team boss told reporters when asked about the Monza tests. I will be interested to know who had the most flexible front wing here [at Spa], because I can guarantee that it wasn't Red Bull. Maybe it was a silver one¦At the end of the day our car complies with the regulations, and the easiest thing in the world if you don't understand it is to try to get something banned.Currently floors at tested in scrutineering for potential flexing by a load being placed on its centreline, but at Monza a load up to 100mm will now be placed either side of that centreline.Williams technical director Sam Michael believes while the revised front wing deflection tests made little difference, the new floor compliance tests will predicting that some teams will have to make substantial revisions to ensure they stay within the rules .I think the front wing [deflection test change] doesn't make any difference at all because it was easy to pass anyway, Michael said.The problem is even in a new load the loads that you see at 300kph [on track] are still significantly higher.The change to the bib' the bit underneath the drivers' leg, the front part of the floor that's really good. What they did there was right.Most of the changes are coming in Monza and I think that will make a difference.Asked if Williams would have to make alterations, he replied: We do have to make some changes, yes. But I think they'll be other teams making much bigger changes than us.We've had to make a few tweaks which we've actually done for this race. So our front floor spec now will comply with Monza.Horner had described as complete propaganda claims from Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn and McLaren counterpart Martin Whitmarsh that the fact the RB6 wing didn't appear to be flexing as much at Spa as it did in Hungary as proof that the team had been forced to make changes to the part.But whatever the reason for the apparent change, Brawn hopes the FIA's clampdown on flexible bodywork puts an end to a controversy he admits has become an unwelcome distraction although he acknowledges his own team had to face accusations about its car's legality last year.I hope so, he said when asked if he thought a line would be drawn under the debate from Monza. It's been a bit of a distraction and probably in some ways a bit unfair on some of the teams that have been doing very well this year, because it reflects on them a little bit.So I hope there's a line drawn under it and we don't talk about it anymore because it's been a bit of a distraction.But that is the nature of Formula 1 that happens all the time. You can recall the debates we had last year about the double diffuser. So we were on a receiving end for a large part of last year.So it is the nature of our business that we're always pushing the boundaries of what can be done.
