Red Bull perform FIA demonstration of bib ride height device in Austin paddock

Red Bull carried out a demonstration of how its bib height adjustment mechanism is accessed with FIA officials after first practice.

Footage on Sky F1 showed Red Bull mechanics demonstrating how the in-cockpit mechanism controlling the bib ride height on the RB20 is accessed to FIA officials.

Red Bull showcases RB20 bib height device mechanism to FIA

Following on from Red Bull’s admission on Thursday that a bib height adjustment mechanism does exist on the RB20, with the mechanism located beneath the driver’s heel pad, the FIA’s concern has been on establishing whether or not the device could have been used under parc fermé regulations.

An adjustment of the bib ride height under parc fermé regulations would be a breach of the regulations, and there has been no evidence that Red Bull has ever made adjustments when these conditions are in place.

The question mark over just how easily the mechanism is accessed was answered by Red Bull with a very public demonstration taking place in the garage following first practice at the United States Grand Prix.

Sky F1 cameras captured detailed footage of the front end of the Red Bull RB20, disassembled, with Max Verstappen’s front-end mechanic Ole Schack demonstrating to two senior FIA scrutineers how the mechanism is accessed.

The footage showed Schack having to use specialised tools to reach the opposite end of the footwell, with the mechanism for controlling the bib ride height understood to be located under an access panel under the pedals – all of which need to be removed.

This tallies up with earlier information, reported by Speedcafe , regarding the location and accessibility of the mechanism.

The demonstration clearly showed that the process is far from quick and easy, and would be highly visible for a mechanic to carry out – surreptitious access under parc fermé conditions, under the watchful eye of FIA officials and overhead garage cameras, would be quite difficult.

While Red Bull’s mechanism has drawn the most attention in the build-up to the United States Grand Prix, the FIA has checked all 10 teams for how bib ride heights are adjusted.

The footage also showed the FIA officials preparing seals to be applied within the footwell, which has been the established course of action by the governing body to ensure there is no theoretical possibility of ride height alteration under parc fermé conditions.

“This is Ole Schack on the right-hand side, demonstrating to two chaps from the FIA – scrutineers from the FIA’s technical department – exactly how they do it,” Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz said as he watched the demonstration being carried out.

“I never thought that they were actually going to be this open. So Schack is actually showing how he puts the device into the footwell of the car once the driver is out, which adjusts the ride height of the front of the car.

“So part of this is for the FIA to actually understand how the device works in a little bit more depth, because yesterday would have been the first chance the FIA would have had to do it, and how they’re going to measure it, perhaps with a seal, perhaps with any other form of measurement, and what happens once sprint qualifying begins and first parc fermé begins later this afternoon, Austin time.

“That’s when parc fermé begins, and the FIA needs to understand how they are going to measure whether the floor is being changed in parc ferme, as the allegations have been.

“So they need to understand, first of all, how the system works, and this is how the system works.

“So absolutely fascinating scenes going on down here. This is being well and truly understood by the FIA. Of course,  parc fermé hasn’t started yet, so they can adjust it up and down as much as they want at the moment but, once parc fermé does start – and that applies to the sprint qualifying as much to a Grand Prix qualifying as it would on a normal weekend – they can’t change it, and this is the FIA, in real-time, understanding from Red Bull Racing how it’s changed and how they’re going to govern it going forward.

“An FIA scrutineer, who is always in the garage, would not have watched that in parc fermé without thinking ‘Ello, ello, ello, that looks a bit suss!’

“The more I see of how this device works, the more I’m starting to believe Red Bull Racing when they say ‘We wouldn’t, we couldn’t, it would be evident on CCTV to get this device in there and start screwing a little nut that affects a bit of the car’.

“So, now I’ve seen how it actually works, I’m starting to think there’s no way they could have done this in parc fermé without a scrutineer referring it back to the FIA.”

Watch the footage below (UK only):

Zak Brown: FIA investigation needs to be ‘very thorough’

Earlier, McLaren CEO Zak Brown addressed the situation regarding Red Bull’s bib ride height adjustment mechanism, saying that he felt aspects of the explanation for its location and accessibility “don’t stack up”.

“I think it needs to be a very thorough investigation because, if you touch your car from a performance standpoint, in or after parc fermé, that is a black-and-white material, substantial breach, which comes with massive consequences,” he said.

“Touching your car after parc fermé is highly illegal within the rules, so I think the FIA needs to get to the bottom of were they or weren’t they?

“Why would you design it to be inside the car when the nine other teams haven’t?

“So I think it’d be unfair of me to say… Of course, I have an opinion on whether I think they have or haven’t.

“But I think the FIA needs to be very diligent in their bottoming out whether they think they have or haven’t.

“When you see cleverly worded comments like ‘You can’t do it when it’s fully assembled’, but I know the car isn’t always fully assembled, and then the FIA feels they need to put a seal on it, why would the FIA need to put a seal on something if it wasn’t accessible?

“Transparency is critically important in today’s day and age. So I still have questions. I know from talking to other team bosses, they still have questions.

“So, until those questions are answered, I think it is still an ongoing investigation to bottom out what do we know?

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