Red Bull will use a different rear wing design on the streets of Monaco this weekend, as a new flexible-wing saga threatens to explode.
The Austrian squad, however, may simply have sidelined the contentious aerodynamic device because it would not have been effective on the low-speed Monte Carlo layout, rather than as a reaction to suggestions that it was photographed illegally flexing two weeks ago in Spain.
Milton-Keynes based Red Bull’s Barcelona wing captured the attention even of the mainstream press in recent days, with the German newspaper Bild modifying the energy drink company’s popular catchphrase (Red Bull gives you wings) for the headline “Red Bull bends wings”.
The FIA clamped down on flexing wings last year, but a technical insider told Auto Motor und Sport that, “compared with what Red Bull are doing, the Ferrari offence was minor”.
Another expert was surprised at how bendable the entire Red Bull wing appeared to be on the Barcelona on-board camera footage. “It must have been intentionally designed (to flex), otherwise it would break.”
The Swiss newspaper Blick, meanwhile, estimated the advantage of the flexible wing at 6kph, or 0.25 seconds per lap, coinciding with David Coulthard’s season-best fifth place in the Spanish grand prix.
