Red Bull drivers express confidence despite FIA-mandated changes to the RB20’s floor height adjustment mechanism ahead of US Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has stated he has no concerns about Red Bull being ordered to modify its car following a FIA ruling.
Ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Red Bull confirmed it had made adjustments to its car after discussions with the FIA. These discussions focused on a device that rivals suspected Red Bull was using to adjust the front floor height of the car in parc fermé conditions, which is prohibited by F1 regulations.
Red Bull agreed to remove the mechanism from the T-tray, which allowed adjustments from the cockpit, but assured it could not be used once the car was in running conditions and thus in parc fermé.
These claims raised some doubts among McLaren drivers. However, Verstappen defended his team.
“I’m really not worried about anything,” he said regarding the modification.
“I just want to have fun and try to do my best. Every race is important, and of course, this one is very important, and we want to perform well.”
“We’ll see how the car responds with the upgrades we have. There are also a lot of changes to the track with the asphalt, so we need to adapt to that as well.”
“But as for the T-tray, nothing changes for me. So everything is fine.”
When asked what the device did, the three-time world champion smiled and replied, “Nothing. I mean, it’s an open-source part, right? Everyone can see it. For us, it was just an easy adjustment tool; when the parts were disassembled, it was simple to tweak.”
“But once the car is fully assembled, you can’t touch it. So for us, it doesn’t change anything… when I read about it, I thought other teams were doing it, and then I found out it was linked to our team.”
“We never even discussed it in the briefing. It’s just an easier tool to adjust the height. Zero impact on performance.”
Sergio Pérez is also confident that his team has complied with the regulations, recalling races where the situation wasn’t ideal: “We haven’t done anything dishonest. We never really talked about it.”
“It’s impossible to adjust from the cockpit. For instance, I remember last year, during a Sprint, we ended up with a ride height that was close to the moon during the race.”
“But it was completely out of the question to lower the car too much because we were concerned about what eventually happened to Mercedes and Ferrari (disqualified for excessive plank wear under the floor).”
When pressed on whether he and Verstappen were aware of the existence of this controversial part, Pérez responded: “I knew it existed, but we don’t have access to use it once the car is on track or in parc fermé. You have to disassemble part of the car to adjust the T-tray.”
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Red Bull Drivers Unfazed by FIA Floor Height Adjustment Red Bull Drivers Unfazed by FIA Floor Height Adjustment
