Red Bull got front wing idea from Force India – report

The concept of Red Bull’s new front wing was pioneered by Force India, according to a report.

The wing sparked the Silverstone furore, when it was taken from Mark Webber’s RB6 before qualifying after the only other example broke on Sebastian Vettel’s car in morning practice.

The two distinguishing features of the old wing, compared with the older specification fitted to winner Webber’s car in qualifying and the race, was an extra flick on the endplates and the camera mountings.

Most cars this year have the mandatory front camera pods mounted on either side of the nose, but the new Red Bull wing featured the cameras just above the main front wing element, located between the wing supports under the nose.

But although Force India’s camera mountings appeared conventional in Britain last weekend, Italy’s authoritative Autosprint magazine claims the Red Bull wing was based on the Silverstone based team’s original concept.

Team boss Christian Horner insists the new wing was not necessarily faster, but offers “a new direction to look at”.

After the distinctive raised nose profile and the blown diffuser, the wing represents a rare example of Red Bull reportedly copying a concept from a rival team.

“As with all these things it’s very difficult to cherry pick items for cars,” Horner, referring to the RB6’s much-copied exhaust layout, was quoted by F1’s official website after Silverstone.

© RIF | GMM