Horner still questions Mercedes’ F-Duct
While the FIA has confirmed the legality of the system developed by Mercedes AMG, Christian Horner remains skeptical about it.
Yesterday, the FIA once again confirmed that the passive F-Duct developed by the Mercedes AMG team was completely legal, much to the dismay of the Lotus F1 and Red Bull Racing teams who doubted it.
The confirmation of the FIA’s opinion suggested a truce or at least the end of discussions around this famous system, but that is not the case. Indeed, Christian Horner is insistent; he wants clarifications on this passive F-Duct.
« I am not the only one, there are other team principals here who want more clarity. Is it something that is accepted as a smart innovation, in which case hats off to Mercedes, or is it something that we cannot develop? » explained the Englishman in the Sepang paddock.
If Red Bull is still questioning whether it’s useful to embark on designing an identical system, at McLaren they are already looking into its operation to implement it as quickly as possible on the MP4-27. But as Martin Whitmarsh pointed out yesterday, the Woking team does not yet fully understand this innovation. « Our engineers are studying this system, but as Jonathan Neale explained this week, we do not yet fully understand how it works. »
It seems, therefore, that Red Bull will also have to look into the matter because it seems unlikely that the FIA will reverse its decision. However, a surprise is always possible…
