Team boss Christian Horner told Reuters on Friday that his cars, which have come under the spotlight after securing pole position in all three races so far this season, would be the same as ever for next week’s Chinese Grand Prix.
“The car will be in the same mechanical specification in China as it has been at the previous races so we are pleased the FIA have chosen to clarify this,” he said.
“I’ve actually been quite surprised at the amount of coverage this has generated,” the Briton added with a laugh.
“We are focused on our own performance and we take it as a compliment in many respects that people suspect we are achieving the performance we are through other mechanisms or means.”
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) wrote to all teams this week to clarify the rules about changes to the suspension of cars between qualifying and the race.
Red Bull finished one-two in the last Malaysian Grand Prix, with Germany’s Sebastian Vettel leading home Australian Mark Webber.
Vettel started on pole in Bahrain and Australia and might have won all three races but for a spark plug failure in the season-opener and a wheel hub problem in Melbourne.
Light on fuel
The speed of the Red Bull in qualifying, when cars are light on fuel before being filled to the finish for the race, has had some in the paddock wondering whether they are using a device or system to adjust the ride height for maximum aerodynamic advantage.
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said after Melbourne his team were racing to develop their own system in time for Shanghai after noticing that some cars, Red Bull included, were running lower to the ground than expected in qualifying.
Horner said any such device would clearly be illegal under the FIA clarification.
“Obviously (regarding) Martin’s comments he was poorly informed because there has been no such system on our car at any grand prix,” he said.
“If anybody did run a system in China onwards it would be clearly in breach of the technical regulations.”
Red Bull celebrated their first grand prix win in Shanghai last year, with Vettel again leading Webber in a one-two finish, and will be heavily tipped to repeat the feat after their showing in Malaysia.
Horner said Red Bull would be foolish to underestimate the competition, however.
“Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes are all strong teams so we don’t take anything for granted,” he said.
“We’ll just look to extract the maximum we can out of the car, the drivers are both in great form and we’ll try our hardest to try and replicate the sort of form we demonstrated in Malaysia.”
