Horner questions new front wing introduction

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner doesn't believe that forcing through new front wing regulations was the right thing to do for 2019. The new front wings will have fewer elements, and are part of a wider scheme to alter the aerodynamics of the cars.

The new regulations were introduced in response to the reported rise in dirty air. Cars found to difficult to follow each other through corners, as the high downforce challengers, that were introduced in 2017, produced increased levels of turbulent air.

The new regulations sparked controversial debates, and now Horner says that changing the front wing was perhaps not the wisest thing to do, stating that it was wrong to rush the confirmation.

"Unfortunately there were some elements of a research project that Ross has been working on that have been cherry-picked by the FIA for application next year,” said Horner, “and unfortunately Mercedes and Ferrari supported it through the Strategy Group and it got voted through.

“Probably with hindsight I think all the teams would recognise now that perhaps it wasn’t the right thing to rush through. But let’s reserve judgement until we see the first four or five races.”

The new regulations are also aiming to bring the field closer together, amid the sizeable gap between the front three and the rest of the pack. However, Horner thinks that it will have the opposite effect, and create bigger gaps throughout the field.

“Will it affect the ability for the cars to follow closely? Maybe a little but not tangibly so. And inevitably somebody will get it right, some teams will get it wrong. So if anything it’ll put more gap between the teams. The best way to achieve a close grid is stability and then the teams will concertina and converge.”