Red Bull flattered by F1 rivals’ car copies

Red Bull figures on Wednesday said they were flattered that so many rival cars now resemble the Milton Keynes-designed single seater.

After the RB5 finished the 2009 season as the dominant car, many new contenders have hit the test tracks this winter resembling features of the Red Bull.

For instance, the new Mercedes, Virgin and Ferrari racers feature the distinctive raised nose edges ahead of the cockpit, while the front of the Williams is high and wide, like the so-called Red Bull ‘duck’s beak’.

The McLaren and Sauber, meanwhile, feature very high noses, all of which caused Adrian Newey to confess to feeling “satisfied” about leading F1’s prevalent design philosophy.

“I suppose it is satisfying, yes, that is the honest truth,” the Red Bull designer said at Jerez.

Australian driver Mark Webber, who gave Red Bull’s new RB6 is debut outing at the Spanish circuit on Wednesday morning, added: “It shows how clever Adrian Newey is that a lot of people copied our car.”

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