Stella: "Hats off to Red Bull" for complex F1 floor design

The Monaco Grand Prix weekend lifted the lid on the underfloor designs of the Mercedes and Red Bull cars as they were craned away following accidents for Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez.

Teams are very secretive about these designs as they can't be seen under normal circumstances, and therefore snapshots of the floors generated a frenzy over the Monaco weekend.

Mercedes technical director James Allison even admitted that teams have photographers strategically placed around the track specifically for such incidents.

When rival team bosses were asked in Barcelona if had been studying Red Bull's intriguing floor design, McLaren team principal Stella said he did, and he was impressed by its complexity.

"Personally, I spent some time but the 100 aerodynamicists at McLaren will be spending a little bit more time," Stella replied. "It's very interesting, indeed. And it also shows the complexity and the quality of the development.

"To be honest, when I saw it I said, 'hats off to Red Bull'. I can understand why they have this kind of performance."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal, McLaren, in the team principals Press Conference

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur said it was normal for teams to take a keen interest in each other's designs, but he stressed that the mere sight of Red Bull's underfloor won't allow rivals to copy the RB19.

He argued the car's performance is more than just the sum of its parts and the floor is therefore inextricably linked to other parts of the design.

"I think that we all have a lot of pictures of the other cars," said Vasseur. "But then it's quite difficult or even impossible to try to copy something because it's more a global concept than something else.

"You can't copy just one part of the car."

Ferrari also caught the attention of the entire paddock in Barcelona when it revealed its new Red Bull-style sidepod, which presents a change in direction for the Maranello squad.

"I was also in front of the Ferrari garage this morning," said Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack.

"You're always looking at the competitors; what is new, new parts. It's always the same."