Christian Horner believes Mercedes sidepod ‘looks like it complies with regulations’ after controversy

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said on Friday that Mercedes’ controversial sidepod design ‘looks like it complies with regulations’. The sidepod shape is much smaller than other teams’ offerings, and the air intake side appeared to be of a limited size.

However the furthest F1 managing director Ross Brawn would go was to say he was ‘surprised’. Ad/> It is not clear if any teams have appealed to the governing body about the new design, but there were rumours that Horner had at first called the sidepod ‘illegal’, before more publicly denying he had an opinion.

Formula 1F1 2022: New drivers, rule changes and race schedule3 HOURS AGO His driver and current champion Max Verstappen would not be drawn on the matter. At a press conference between the two sessions on Day 2 of testing in Bahrain, Horner appeared more relaxed about the subject.

“Whether we think it’s legal or not, yes, it looks like it ticks all the boxes,” he said. 'Typical Mercedes' — Ferrari's Sainz suspicious of German team at Bahrain Day 2 Red Bull head Horner caught telling Hamilton to 'shut the f*** up' Hamilton: There's 'respect' between Verstappen & I, but there are no friends on the track “Comments have been quoted that weren’t made.

It is an innovative solution. The Mercedes car looks like it complies with the regulations.” Formula 1'Typical Mercedes' — Ferrari's Sainz suspicious of German team at Bahrain Day 24 HOURS AGO Formula 1Hamilton: There's 'respect' between Verstappen & I, but there are no friends on the track4 HOURS AGO