Brown confident FIA have rectified ‘potential issue’ after Red Bull confirm ‘front bib’ height device

McLaren CEO Zak Brown says that he is comfortable the FIA are on top of a “potential issue” following Red Bull’s confirmation that a device capable of altering the front bib height on their car does indeed exist. The governing body have since implemented “procedural adjustments” to ensure that the front bib clearance cannot be easily modified.

As drivers and teams arrived at the Circuit of The Americas for the United States Grand Prix, reports swirled about a team potentially boasting a tool that could adjust the height of the bib – or ‘tea tray’ – between qualifying and the race in a bid to maximise performance under different conditions.

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Making such a change would be prohibited under parc ferme conditions, which come into play from the moment a car leaves the pit lane for qualifying.

Addressing the situation, a Red Bull spokesperson said: “Yes, [the device] exists, although it is inaccessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to run. In the numerous correspondence we have with the FIA, this part came up and we have agreed a plan going forward.”

Meanwhile, an FIA spokesperson commented: “Any adjustment to the front bib clearance during parc ferme conditions is strictly prohibited by the regulations.

“While we have not received any indication of any team employing such a system, the FIA remains vigilant in our ongoing efforts to enhance the policing of the sport.

“As part of this, we have implemented procedural adjustments to ensure that front bib clearance cannot be easily modified. In some cases, this may involve the application of a seal to provide further assurance of compliance.”

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In light of this, McLaren CEO Brown was asked on Friday at Austin if he was comfortable with the situation since the FIA’s announcement.

“I’m comfortable that the FIA are on top of it,” Brown responded. “I’m comfortable that the FIA have discovered an issue or a potential issue and they’ve rectified it moving forward.

“I do have some concerns over what’s maybe, or has or hasn’t, happened historically, but that’s kind of more where our concerns and questions are.

“It’s an open source component, so you can look at what all the teams are doing – it’s published and it’s the only team from what we can see that has the ability to make modifications from inside the cockpit, so some things don’t quite stack up in the sense of if you can’t adjust it in parc ferme or after, why put a seal on it if it’s already effectively sealed?

“So that kind of raises a bit of an eyebrow, and then the wording of you can’t get to it when the car’s fully prepped to go racing, but in parc ferme the car’s not always fully prepped and on race day morning, because you can do things like driver comfort.

“So, some things there that kind of don’t stack up – some commentary – but I’m sure the FIA are on it. They’re very experienced, and hopefully it will just bottom out in a transparent way, answer our questions to our satisfaction.”

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With the topic proving a source of discussion within the paddock, Red Bull boss Christian Horner was also quizzed on the device, with the Team Principal insisting it had been located in its current position for over three years.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Horner said: “Every car has a tool that they can use to adjust the front of the bib – what we call the front of the floor, being the bib. Ours is located at the front, in front of the footwell. It’s been there for, I think, over three years.

“You’ve got to have the pedals out, other panels and pipework out, in order to be able to get to it. It’s like any other adjustment on the car. It would be easier to adjust a rear roll bar than it would be to get to that component. It’s all part of the packaging in the front end of the chassis.”

When asked why the FIA felt they needed to seal the device, Horner added: “I think there’s been a bit of moaning from one of our rivals, and it’s the FIA’s job to look into these things.

“It’s on a list of the open source components so it’s been publicly available for, as I say, the last three years. The FIA are happy with it, and I think it’s just to satisfy some paranoia elsewhere in the paddock.”

McLaren currently lead Red Bull in the constructors’ standings by 41 points, while MaxVerstappen is at the top of the drivers’ standings with a 52-point advantage over Lando Norris.