Mercedes F1 says it has “fantastic visuals to watch” after Red Bull Racing’s F1 floor design was unveiled over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. Red Bull’s ground floor was unveiled to the world when Sergio Perez’s RB19 was craned high into the Monaco sky after his crash in qualifying, giving competitors a rare glimpse of a part of the car they rarely get to see see it
The underside of the 2023 Mercedes car was also revealed when Lewis Hamilton’s much improved W14 went airborne when it whizzed by at Mirabeau in final practice. Mercedes technical director James Allison said the team had obtained a number of high-resolution images to examine the floor of the RB19. “There’s certainly always been a lot of interest,” Allison said in Mercedes’ latest video about the unintended floor reveal in Monaco. “We have a lot of team photographers running around, rather than relying on low resolution, not sea-grade TV pictures,” he said. “They broke the lid there, and then our inboxes were filled with hi-res images of other cars.” You’ll get lots of pictures in your mailbox.” “But we got some great images of the Red Bull and that’s always good for our aerodynamicists and the testing program we have going on. We can see if we can find out any details that interest us.” Red Bull Racing F1 team principal Christian Horner insists he is not worried about his car’s secrets being revealed. “It’s very rude to look on people’s skirts,” joked Christian Horner about the Red Bull underside image. “There are floor shots being taken all over the paddock,” Horner said. “They get to a van, operate the car, press the lid. Each team hires a spy photographer to take pictures of the car with the parts disassembled. That is the general practice. “I don’t think it’s the first time it’s been lifted by a crane, but every team always strives to get that information.”
