Christian Horner concerned Mercedes may spark ‘mirror war’ during F1 2022 season
Horner rowed back comments that he allegedly made calling Mercedes’ new mirrors “illegal”
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Your support makes all the difference.Christian Horner has warned that Formula 1 must be careful to avoid a “mirror war” after highlighting Mercedes’ new design during preseason testing.
Horner and Red Bull rowed back comments allegedly made by the team principal that Mercedes’ new mirrors were “illegal” and went against overhauled design regulations for the 2022 F1 season.
The German team trialled a new mirror design during preseason testing in Bahrain, with Ferrari also questioning whether they should be allowed.
While a necessary part of any vehicle, designers have often attempted to maximise their presence by making them as aerodynamically beneficial as possible.
The sport’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) are expected to discuss mirror design ahead of the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix and Horner has urged them to address potential issues.
“We certainly don’t want to get into a mirror war,” Horner said.
“So much time in these technical meetings over the last 10 years or so have been about the function of the mirrors and whether they become wings or not, at least probably not in the intention.
“So in the right forum, in the TAC meeting they have, that will probably be addressed and discussed there.”
However the FIA’s Nikolas Tombazis has suggested that they have not seen anything blatantly “contrary to the regulations”, and insisted that there are only “small details” to be looked at.
The organisation’s technical director said ahead of the TAC meeting: “We always assess rules for following years, and we assess whether things are clear,” he said.
“And when there are new rules, sometimes certain things may not have been phrased as well as we intended and so on.
“By and large, the level of discrepancy is quite low from what was intended. But there are a few little areas and we’ve discussed that with the teams.
I would say there hasn’t been something that we think is contrary to the objectives of the regulations.
“There’s been some small details perhaps in some areas, which are a bit less less regulated than other areas.
“There have been some winglets and stuff like that which were maybe not fully in line with the objectives but they are relatively small details.”
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