'Red Bull won't protest, we'll copy'

Friday 12th March 2010

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'Red Bull won't protest, we'll copy'

'Red Bull won't protest, we'll copy'

Christian Horner has revealed that Red Bull are unlikely to protest McLaren's rear wing, instead they'll look to develop their "own version."

Eyebrows were raised in the paddock when McLaren unveiled an unusual aerodynamic device on their MP4-25, which features a slot on the rear wing.

Red Bull were the first to express their doubts about the legality of the design, which they claim gives the Woking team an advantage of 6mp/h in straight-line speed.

However, on Friday, FIA technical chief Charlie Whiting inspected the car in Bahrain, giving it the all-clear.

As such Red Bull are unlikely to launch a protest similar to the double-decker diffuser protests that marred last year's Championship.

"It is similar to the double diffuser issue (of last year), in that teams will pursue different variants of that wing between now and the end of the season," Horner told Autosport.

"I think that it's unlikely that we would protest it, so we would look at developing our own version."

Copying the design, though, won't be an easy task for Red Bull or the rest of the McLaren's rivals as F1 regulations state that a homologated chassis cannot be changed.

"You cannot change a homologated chassis so you would have to go about it in a different manner," Horner added. "But as it's deemed legal... engineers are creative people. I'm sure they will find another way of doing it."

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