F1 News: Red Bull Shrugs Off Threat Claims After Floor Reveal

Amidst concerns over the Canadian Grand Prix's status, Red Bull shrugs off competitors possibly copying its floor design, claiming it won't boost their speed.

Red Bull has thrown down the gauntlet, saying that its Formula 1 competitors will not gain any speed advantage by simply making 'ignorant copies' of its floor design. 

The tension brewed during the Monaco Grand Prix when, due to an unfortunate crash involving Sergio Perez, Red Bull's secretive floor design was publicly exposed. As Perez's wrecked car was hoisted away in the qualifying rounds, the undercarriage design, which was intended to remain under wraps, was suddenly open for all to see.

Several other teams acknowledged gaining critical insights from the exposed RB19 design. Even Mercedes admitted to having secured a "nice clutch" of images that its aerodynamicists are now closely examining.

Despite the unexpected exposure and the interest it has sparked among its competitors, Red Bull remains unfazed. Paul Monaghan, Red Bull's chief engineer, has explained, as quoted by Autosport.com:

“It's not great. We don't put our car up [like that], but it has happened and we'll move on.

“But there's a phase lag between people seeing it, getting it onto their car and actually going faster with it. A better description is that an ignorant copy isn't necessarily going to go faster. It has to integrate. And it's not just a bit of floor geometry.”

The chief engineer added:

“Our development path is reasonably well laid out in terms of the timings we wish to try to deploy things if they're going to make us go faster.

“If we change someone else's development plan, then we probably increase the phase lag by which they can get it to the car. So around about Japan time, we'll see where everybody is.

“But we've got to maintain our discipline and our development path. And it's only our car that we can change. We can't influence what those guys do. So, we'll keep plugging away in our own manner and we'll try to be quickest.”