Christian Horner: Win shows RB16B was legal all along

Christian Horner has said his team’s win at the French Grand Prix shows they haven’t broken any rules they’ve been accused of breaking this year.

Prior to the race weekend at Paul Ricard, Red Bull had been accused by Mercedes of having an illegal flexible rear wing on their car.

Pirelli meanwhile had suggested that Max Verstappen’s tyre failure at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was due to the pressure levels the team were using.

The FIA introduced a Technical Directive prior to round seven addressing the matter of rear wings, and another one was put in place regarding tyre pressures.

Despite all of this, Red Bull still won, with Verstappen passing Lewis Hamilton with just two laps to go. Horner says this shows that the team were never breaking any rules to gain an unfair advantage.

“I think it just shows that – you know, a lot of comments have been made over the last few weeks with accusations, but we’ve complied with the rules,” the team principal said as per racingnews365.com.

“And the way that we’ve reacted, I think, again, shows the strength and depth that our performance isn’t based on rear wing flexibility.

“All times we’ve always followed the prescriptions from Pirelli. And, obviously, the increase in tyre pressure this weekend was challenging for all the teams. But again, the engineering team has done a great job in optimising the car around it.”

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In response to Mercedes’ accusations about their rear wing, Horner and co claimed that the German team’s front wing should be investigated for the same issues.

According to reports in Germany, Red Bull have now asked for the FIA to investigate the matter, stopping short of launching an official protest.

“The FIA is on it,” Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, Dr Helmut Marko, is quoted as having told Sky Germany.

“There is enough footage. We expect it to be similar to the rear wing [new tests]. But we wait to see what the FIA will say.”

Speaking to Nico Rosberg and Toto Wolff in the paddock after the last race, Horner said that it was payback.

“Yeah, it’s payback basically,” he said.

“Today was payback for Barcelona and he [Toto] gets the front wing in a couple of weeks as well.”

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