Christian Horner restarts Mercedes feud by claiming Lewis Hamilton’s new car ‘is not legal’
The new F1 season has not even started yet but Christian Horner has already resumed his feud with Mercedes over claims the new car Lewis Hamilton will be driving ‘is not legal’ – though Red Bull have disputed the quotes.
There had been speculation Mercedes were keeping something up their sleeve and on Thursday morning, at the final Bahrain test, they unveiled their new-look, ‘no sidepod’ W13.
The car features minimalist, barely visible sidepods and fins on the side to improve airflow, with Mercedes seemingly already stealing a march on their rivals ahead of next week’s season curtain raiser.
Reacting to the car, Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz said: ‘This has captured the attention of everybody in Formula 1 this morning.
‘If Barcelona [testing] was just the starter, this Mercedes is the big main course… this is essentially a new car for the eight-time champions Mercedes.
‘I’m sure Red Bull are thinking, “What is the benefit of that compared to ours? Do we have to worry about this?”’
Within hours of the W13 being unveiled, Red Bull team principle Horner appeared to take umbrage with the radical design, with German publication Auto Motor und Sport claiming he said: ‘The new Mercedes violates the spirit of the regulations.
‘For us, there are some parts that are not legal.’
Since then, however, Red Bull have released a statement of their own denying the quotes: ‘Christian Horner has not given any interviews regarding Mercedes’ car. Any quotes being attributed to him this morning are incorrect.’
<p lang=«es» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«es»>Los no pontones de Mercedes. Queee??? The no sidepods of Mercedes. Whaaat?????#f12022 pic.twitter.com/WSlesjHOWfAll of the newly designed cars for the 2022 season must pass checks by the FIA before being cleared to
