At the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Red Bull Racing rivals were given a unique opportunity. As Sergio Perez' s crashed RB19 was hoisted high into the air, they had ample opportunity to view the car's floor. Max Verstappen is not worried about possible copycat behaviour that will follow this, as the competition is busy doing so anyway, according to the Dutchman.
Verstappen sees rivals copy Red Bull floor
Photographers were quick to capture the Adrian Newey-designed floor on camera. Presumably the rivals will have found plenty of inspiration for their own design, but that does not worry Verstappen. "They are doing that anyway," he told GPblog and others.
"Of course it's not great, but on the other hand the other teams are not stupid either," the Dutchman continued. "Even if they were to copy it completely, that doesn't fit the philosophy of their car. You then still have to adjust a lot of things. That's the same for us: we can't put someone else's sidepod on, that's just not how the car works."
The fact that the Red Bull floor cannot simply be copied and then put under another Formula 1 car is not the only reason why Verstappen is not worried. "In the end, I don't think it matters very much. This is our floor now, but in a few races we will have a new floor again. That one will be completely different again. It won't matter that much," said the championship leader.