Mercedes denies Red Bull’s claim of rear wing score marks on F1 car

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner asked Toto Wolff to explain the score marks his team identified in Friday’s FIA press conference, suggesting it is a sign that Mercedes rear wing has been flexing too much and thus benefitting it on the straights.

Red Bull has threatened a protest but Mercedes has insisted that its rear wing design is legal, encouraging the FIA to inspect it.

Speaking after Friday practice in Qatar, Mercedes trackside engineer director Andrew Shovlin was asked about Horner’s claims of score marks - which he rejected.

“Well we’ve had a look at it and there are no score marks so we’re not quite sure what that is,” he said. “It seems to be a bit of a story that’s not going away. From our point of view, we are absolutely happy with what we’ve got on the car.

“We’ve invited the FIA to look at it as much as they want, they don’t have any issue with what we’ve got and we go to every circuit, we look at what the fastest wing we have is and that’s what we will bolt to the car and that’s what we will keep doing.

“As I said, we will work what’s fastest, we will stick it on the car and we will not take advice from another team.”

It was a dramatic weekend for Mercedes at Interlagos after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified following qualifying before storming back through the field in the sprint and grand prix to beat Max Verstappen to the victory.

Shovlin revealed that the team has “really come together” as it looks to hit back against Red Bull and secure both titles.

“The team has really come together,” he explained. “What was encouraging to see was with a weekend like we just had in Brazil with so much distraction in so many different areas, whether it was with the team or with Lewis, it was just heads down and get on with the job.

“We showed that the car has the pace to do that. Brazil was fantastic for our confidence, for our confidence that we can bring both these championships home but it’s an amazing place at the moment. Everyone is working so hard to deliver that.”