F1 flexi saga: 'Rubber Red Bull'
2012-11-08 11:52
RUBBERY RED BULL UNDER FIRE: Red Bull has come under the spotlight again, this time for the "rubbery" nose on its RB8 car.
Formula 1's flexi saga continues as Red Bull came under the media spotlight for its "bendy" F1 cars.
Multiple videos and images have emerged from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix showing the nose the 2012 RB8 car apparently made of some sort of "rubbery" material.
RIVALS ANALYSING
Autosprint wrote: "Is this legal? Should it (the nose) not be a rigid part?"
Auto Motor und Sport journalist Tobias Gruner, thinks the controversy is a "false alarm", because the front 150mm of the nose are "always made a little softer" for the purposes of the FIA's mandatory crash tests.
Gruner said that engineers from rival teams are similarly analysing the images, with "at least one team" thought to have already contacted the governing body.
At the heart of the latest technical controversy is Red Bull's designer Adrian Newey, who was recently labelled a "genius" by McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton.
Former champion Damon Hill said: "His cars are veritable works of art. I don't want to go too far, but he is the Michelangelo of formula one."
Video 1 (you will need a login)
Video 2 - Show's Mark Webber's RB8 car nose "wobbling"
Video 3 - Shows Red Bull pit crews adjusting the nose
