Red Bull figures have praised the action taken by the FIA to address concerns over engine regulation loopholes.
The past two weeks have already seen two technical directives issued by Formula 1’s governing body with the belief being that Ferrari, who have had a big advantage all season, are using potentially illegal tricks to find performance.
After the first in Austin, it was almost too coincidental that the Italian team’s pace then suddenly dropped, certainly on Sunday, with Max Verstappen landing himself in hot water with the Scuderia after calling them out for cheating.
“I prefer not to comment on it,” the Dutchman said in Brazil when asked if he wanted to elaborate.
“I think it’s much more important that we just look ahead and focus on the last two races, and just fight it out on-track.”
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Even so, the 22-year-old was satisfied the topic was being addressed.
“It’s good, the FIA is definitely on top of it, and it’s now very clear I think for everyone what is allowed and what is not allowed,” Verstappen said.
“I think from their side, it’s good that they wrote everything. Of course, it’s a very complex regulation with everything.
“For them, it’s also not the easiest job to be on top of everything straight away, because like I said, it’s a lot of rules.”
Only days earlier, Red Bull supplier Honda had also spoken for the need to ensure no engine supplier was gaining an unfair advantage.
“We are very keen to have a fair race under the FIA Formula 1 regulations, respecting the regulations, that’s our desire,” said F1 technical chief Toyoharu Tanabe.
“To have that clean, fair race, we need FIA policing. Maybe some teams, or some people, are thinking of something to improve performance, and we clarify whether it’s OK and they say ‘no’, then we don’t do it.
“Someone doing something like that, when they clearly said no, maybe they stop using that. Then we will have a clean race.”
And now, Red Bull boss Christian Horner is hinting the most recent directive issued ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix won’t be the last.
“Being such a competitive business and complicated business, teams are continually asking questions of the technical delegate,” he explained.
“Questioning what is a fair interpretation of the regulations in terms of what is legal and what isn’t. That happens on the chassis side and on the engine side.
“Of course, there were a few clarifications that came out over the Austin weekend, a few more yesterday and maybe a few more this weekend.
“It just shows the FIA are really policing what is a very complicated power unit with great scrutiny.”