Helmut Marko retaliates with McLaren deflection hint over Red Bull bib row

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko insists their ride height control system is “completely legal”, hinting that McLaren are diverting away attention.

Red Bull admitted on Thursday ahead of the United States GP that a mechanism for adjusting the bib ride height on their RB20 does exist, after the FIA had confirmed procedural adjustments, consisting of additional seals on the access ports, to make sure that front bib clearance cannot be easily modified.

Helmut Marko insists Red Bull RB20 ‘completely legal’

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Red Bull performed a very public demonstration of how the in-cockpit device is accessed for the FIA at COTA, as the governing body looks to ensure that the device could not be used under parc fermé regulations, which would be a breach of the regulations. It must be stressed that there is no evidence that Red Bull has at any point done this.

However, the situation has generated a great deal of talk in the F1 paddock, with Zak Brown, CEO of Red Bull’s title rival McLaren, highly vocal.

Marko dropped a hint that attention is being diverted from “some other issues” when asked for his response on the saga.

“It’s completely legal and it was known to all the other teams, because we had informed the FIA about that,” he told Sky Sport Italy .

“And I guess nearly every team has it. And you can’t change it between qualifying and the race, so that’s the main thing. So nothing illegal.

“I don’t know why so much fuss is about it. I think someone is trying to take away the attention of some other issues.

“The FIA knew about it like all the other teams knew about it and there was no sanction or no order or any change. We didn’t have to change the car or anything like that.”

However, Brown is not backing down and wants the FIA to take this further.

“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 told Sky Sports F1 .

“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?

“I’d like some more answers before I’m prepared to kind of go ‘Right, I guess they were or they weren’t’, but I think the FIA will bottom it out.”

Learn more about Zak Brown and Helmut Marko

👉 Helmut Marko: The Red Bull motorsport boss with a fearsome reputation

👉 Zak Brown car collection: The legendary machines owned by the McLaren boss

Red Bull’s Drivers’ Championship leader Max Verstappen, when he first read about the situation, thought other teams were at the centre of this FIA clampdown.

Asked by the media including PlanetF1.com what the reaction has been within Red Bull to this development, Verstappen replied: “Nothing. I mean, it’s open source right? Everyone can see it.

“For us, it was just an easy tool when the parts were off, it was easy to adjust. But once the whole car is built together, you can’t touch it.

“So for us, it doesn’t change… When I read it, I was like thinking about other teams doing it, and then I found out it was related to our team.

“We never even mentioned it in the briefing.”

Read next – Explained: Why Red Bull’s adjustable bib isn’t being punished by the FIA