Red Bull mounts attack on new W13: 'Some parts are illegal'

Mercedes drew a lot of attention at the start of the first day of testing in Bahrain. The W13 has hardly any sidepods and Christian Horner noticed that too. The Red Bull Racing team boss was critical of the new design.

Red Bull were still in the spotlight in Barcelona with the new RB18. That was partly because Red Bull had been very secretive about the new car of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, but it was also because of Adrian Newey's impressive car. Especially the sidepods with the huge undercut stood out.

While Mercedes came up with a fairly standard car in Barcelona, the German team suddenly pulled a rabbit out of the hat in Bahrain with an even narrower side pod than Red Bull. Everyone in the paddock immediately noticed this, but Horner has his reservations about whether this is legal. As a result, the season has really started again.

"The new Mercedes goes against the spirit of the regulations. For us, some parts are not legal," Horner told Auto, Motor und Sport. Adrian Newey was not yet aware of Horner's analysis when asked about it. "I should probably look at some pictures of that car then."

Fans of Verstappen and Red Bull do not have to worry right away, however. Whereas Red Bull came up with a similar car on Thursday as in Barcelona, that will not be the case for the next two days. Newey states that the updates will appear on the car on Friday and Saturday and will be visible to the naked eye.