Christian Horner suggests Red Bull rival “lighting a fire to distract” as ‘Bibgate’ swirls

Christian Horner believes the ‘Bibgate’ controversy in Austin has come about to satisfy the paranoia of a rival team.

Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, the topic of Red Bull’s bib height adjustment mechanism has dominated headlines, with team boss Christian Horner saying he believes a rival team is attempting to distract from what’s going on in its own camp.

Christian Horner: Red Bull’s adjustment mechanism has been there for three years

Over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, the theoretical possibility of Red Bull being able to make ride height adjustments via an in-cockpit mechanism came to light as the FIA was made aware of a device through its own open-source documentation which every team must submit to the governing body.

Red Bull readily admitted the existence of the device, as well as confirming the location of the mechanism in the driver footwell, but demonstrations made to the FIA on Friday in the pitlane showed it is an area of the car not easily accessed – the car requires comprehensive disassembly and specialised tools to adjust the mechanism.

While all 10 F1 teams have a bib height adjustment system, only Red Bull’s is located within the cockpit – leading to the controversy due to the theoretical possibility of adjustment under parc fermé conditions, when such adjustments are expressly forbidden.

The FIA scrutineers in Austin visited each team on Friday to get a good look at the bib height adjustment mechanisms, with Red Bull’s being fitted with an FIA seal to close off the possibility of it being adjusted.

The controversy, which was quickly dubbed ‘Bibgate’, has set tongues wagging ahead of the United States Grand Prix, with F1’s latest technical furore coming just weeks after McLaren was forced to modify its low-downforce rear wings after the discovery of a ‘mini-DRS’ benefit from its flexibility.

Speaking on Friday, McLaren CEO Zak Brown called upon the FIA to carry out a “thorough investigation” to establish whether the mechanism has been used under parc fermé regulations, and questioned why Red Bull put the mechanism in the cockpit.

“Why would you design it to be inside the car, when the other nine other teams design it to be outside the car?” he said.

“Ingenuity is part of Formula 1, and then there are black-and-white rules.

“You cannot touch your race car, other than things like driver comfort.

“They [Red Bull] chose their words very carefully, saying “when the car is fully assembled”, but you’re allowed to not have the car fully assembled in parc fermé when you’re working on driver comfort.

“Also, what doesn’t quite stack up is the comment that you can modify it. Well, then why does the FIA feel they need to put a seal on it if it’s not accessible post or during parc fermé – why put a seal on it?”

Speaking to Sky F1 ahead of Sprint qualifying in Austin, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner pointed out just how awkward it is to access the mechanism – making it difficult to use in surreptitious fashion while in parc fermé – and said the design stems back over several car iterations.

“Every car has a tool that they can adjust the front of the bib,” he said.

“Ours is located at the front, in front of the footwell.

“It’s been there for, I think, over three years. You’ve got to have the pedals, other panels, and pipework out in order to be able to get to it.

“So 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 and in the front end of the chassis.”

Horner didn’t name the rival team he believes to have gone to the FIA about the design, but said there is clearly “paranoia” behind the situation.

“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,” he said, when asked why the FIA has felt the need to place a seal over Red Bull’s access port.

“It’s on a list of the open-source components, so it’s been publicly available for, as I say, the last three years.

“The FIA is happy with it. [It’s] just to satisfy perhaps some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock.

“If you think that there’s some kind of handbrake or lever that the drivers can activate with a low, medium, or high setting, I’m really sorry to disappoint you!”

Given the details which have emerged about Red Bull’s bib height mechanism in recent days, the team boss was asked whether he feels it’s a “non-story”, to which Horner gave a pointed answer.

“I feel that it’s sometimes to distract from perhaps what’s going on in your own house, sometimes you try and light a fire somewhere else,” he said.

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Horner’s comments could be viewed as referring to McLaren’s rear wing ‘mini-DRS’ controversy from Baku, which resulted in the FIA agreeing with the Woking-based squad that changes to its low-downforce rear wings would be made.

Speculation over the Austin weekend has suggested McLaren has been requested by the FIA to change all of its rear wing line-up, including the wing being used in Austin, which was denied by the team when asked by PlanetF1.com.

However, a spokesperson conceded that “minor adjustments” have been made to “all” of McLaren’s rear wings since Baku to ensure no further issues after its “proactive” offer to adjust its low-downforce wing.

“There was an awful lot of noise about rear wings,” Horner said, when asked if he was saying there’s “something dodgy” on the McLaren.

“McLaren had to change their rear wing yesterday.

“It’s part of Formula 1. I’m sure there’ll be other stuff that comes up between now and Abu Dhabi.”

As for the timing of the ‘Bibgate’ controversy, Horner said he wasn’t surprised by it as it comes at the start of an intensive triple-header in the Americas.

“We’re at the start of a triple header. It could have been mentioned three weeks ago, but I think it was a conversation that we actually had with the FIA in Singapore,” he said.

“They looked at it, and they’re more than happy with it. They’re totally happy with it.

“Just to explain to the public, there are probably about 600 items on the car that are fully adjustable. Everybody can adjust these items. What you can’t do is adjust them during parc fermé.

“That is what hasn’t happened. As I say, it would be easier to adjust a 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 pitlane. So we’re totally comfortable.”

As for whether he feels certain that Red Bull is compliant with all regulations and isn’t having to change further aspects of its car, Horner said there’s no argument from him if the FIA would like to seal up everything adjustable on the car.

“We have no issue with that – we can seal every movable joint on the car because parc fermé dictates you can’t change anything – that’s what parc fermé is there for,” he said.

“We’ve complied with all the regulations and procedures. We’re more than happy with the discussions with the FIA and, what’s been shown to them, and they’re very comfortable with it”.

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