SAO PAULO, Brazil – Red Bull boss Christian Horner said Lewis Hamilton’s blistering on the field during Saturday’s sprint is why his team has doubts about Mercedes’ rear wing.
The rear of the car of the world champion this week received a lot of attention. After qualifying the fastest on Friday, Hamilton was disqualified from the outcome of that session when the Drag Reduction System (DRS) on his rear wing opened up 0.2 mm more than the 85 mm allowed in the regulations.
While the FIA race managers who issued the disqualification papers said this was clearly a broken wing, and not an attempt to cheat, Red Bull was very concerned to that part of the Mercedes for a few weeks now. Red Bull is said to have launched an investigation with the FIA earlier this week ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
That could help explain why championship leader Max Verstappen checked and touched the rear wing of Hamilton’s car after qualifying, something ended up landing him a fine of 50,000 Euros.
Speaking Saturday after sprint qualifying, Horner said Hamilton’s pace in the sprint showed why the team was so curious.
“Honestly, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen it [on Friday]”, Horner told Sky Sports. Lewis’ straight line speed is amazing.”
When asked what the team was seeking clarity from the FIA about, he said: “It’s something that is allowing the car to achieve such speeds. Something has to happen because physics doesn’t. allow ….
“The kind of horsepower delta you need to get there, will be substantial. So we’re clearly trying to understand what it is and start from there.”
Horner said Mercedes has shown signs of increasing performance for some time.
“We’ve seen this happen in a couple of races now. Turkey, it started there. In Mexico, we saw the speed on the straight line, I think they were about 14 kilometers faster. /h is at the end of the line relative to us, so it’s no surprise. “Yesterday, we found that to be extraordinary, especially given the size of the rear spoiler they have on the car. It’s something that we have to try and focus on on our own performance. “
