Newey: Wing complaints now 'boring'

The reigning world champion team has been at the centre of fresh comments about the design of its front wing - which appears to run much closer to the ground than rivals' - this season.

However, with the FIA having found nothing wrong with the wing design despite increased load tests introduced this year, the matter appears to have died down with rival teams now pursuing their own wing concepts for introduction later this year.

In an interview with The Red Bulletin, however, Newey said the allegations had been annoying and he reckoned the public criticisms were simply a way of one team trying to force through a change of regulations to get the Red Bull design outlawed.

"To be honest, it's a bit boring," said Newey about the wing controversy. "I've had a season of people moaning about our front wing last year. The tests were made more rigorous by the FIA, it's examined in great detail... I mean, frankly, I think it's an effort by one team in particular to get a change in regulations because the regulations are very clear in terms of what you can and cannot do with the front wing.

"The rest comes down to how you run the car. We choose to run the car with quite a lot of rake; that means high at the rear, low at the front. Others, McLaren for instance, have chosen to take the opposite route. They run the car quite low-rake. Once you run the rear low, that means the front wing is automatically high."

Although Newey did not name the team he reckoned was pushing for a change of regulations, it is likely he was talking about McLaren - whose drivers publicly questioned the Red Bull design earlier this year.

Newey also said in the interview that he had mixed feelings about McLaren having made such a step forward in form with its car before the start of the season after copying Red Bull Racing's blown diffuser concept.

"It's annoying but flattering at the same time," he said. "They've certainly taken a big step forward with it and it seems to have worked particularly well for them. That's the nature of Formula 1. We have to keep developing, try to come up with new ideas to stay ahead."

Newey added that his outfit had ruled out going as extreme as Renault with its exhaust layout this year.

"We heard rumours over the winter that Renault were looking at the exhaust they've come out with, but we didn't spend any time researching it ourselves," he said. "We decided that with the time available we really wanted to concentrate on the route we were taking. And, yeah, that's the thing about Formula 1: very often there are different paths that can be taken, and it's very difficult to forecast which one is going to be the more fruitful.

"Who knows? Maybe Renault will keep developing theirs and find more ultimate potential than ours? It's difficult to know and impossible to look at all the routes. I think you just spread yourself too thin."