The FIA believes the steps taken to ensure no team changes the ride height under parc ferme conditions will make it a non-story from the United States Grand Prix onwards.
Red Bull has been the focus of attention because a rival team complained to the FIA about its design in Singapore, leading to a clampdown from the governing body to ensure no team breaches parc ferme regulations. The FIA’s single seater director Nikolas Tombazis says sealing the component in question once it can no longer be adjusted should rule out any suspicions moving forward and attributes the recent focus to the heat of a championship battle.
“At the previous race, it was pointed out to us that certain designs could allow a change of the height of the front of the car, which some people call a bib, in parc ferme,” Tombazis told Sky Sports. “We didn’t have any indication or any proof that anybody was doing something like that. That would be clearly illegal under parc ferme regulations.
“But as I said, we didn’t have any clear indication that somebody was doing such a thing, so we said from this race onwards, there must be no possibility to do such a thing at all. If a team has a design that would allow a quick change of that height, then it had to be sealed so they could not have access in parc ferme. I think all teams have adhered to that, and as far as we’re concerned, that’s reasonably under control.
“I think it’s certainly not a story from now on. I think we’ve done all that’s needed to stop there being any accusations, and then of course it is a tight championship and people get rather excited about each other’s cars. We can’t definitively close the previous races or any insinuations between teams in a very competitive environment, but in the present situation, we believe it’s a non-story, yes.”
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Tombazis says the FIA is unlikely to revisit previous races and the device’s use, despite Zak Brown’s calls for a full investigation into the way Red Bull has been running its car.
“Honestly, no. We’re talking … a couple of millimeters or something like that, potentially. We’re really talking very, very small numbers. I don’t think it’s something that we could go and check. But as I say, we don’t have any indication or proof or anything like that about something untoward having happened before.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner added that the set-up has been in place since the start of the current regulations in 2022, and insists it has remained untouched like the rest of the car that is subject to parc ferme regulations.
“Every car has a tool that they can adjust the front of the bib, what we call the front of the floor being the bib,” Horner also told Sky Sports. “Ours is located at the front, in front of the footwell. It’s been there I think for over three years.
“You’ve got to have the pedals out, other panels and pipework out, in order to be able to get to it. It’s like any other adjustment on the car. It would be easier to adjust a rear roll bar than it is to get to that component. It’s all part of the packaging in the front end of the chassis.
“I think there’s been a bit of moaning from one of our rivals, and it’s the FIA’s job to look into these things. It’s on a list of the open source components. It’s been publicly available for the last three years. The FIA are happy with it. I think [maybe this is] just to satisfy some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock.
“It’s obvious that we’re at the start of a triple-header — could have mentioned it three weeks ago. It was a conversation that we actually had with the FIA in Singapore. They looked at it, they’re more than happy with it…
“Just to explain to the public — there’s probably about 600 items on the car that are fully adjustable. Everybody can adjust these elements. What you can’t do is adjust them during parc ferme, and that is what hasn’t happened.
“As I say, it would be easier to adjust the floor stay or a roll bar or a push rod length than strip out the pedals. We have cameras watching the cars. We have scrutineers and witnesses watching the cars. Our car has come under more scrutiny in the last three years than any other car in the pit lane, so we’re totally comfortable.”