Red Bull boss Christian Horner on Thursday criticized Mercedes’ new design and declared the car illegal. On Friday, the team manager turned around and said he ticked all the boxes in the rules.

Aftenposten collaborates with VG-sporten. Therefore, as a reader of Aftenposten, you also get the articles and services created by VG.

– Mercedes has gone too far. It’s not in the spirit of the rules. “For us, these wings are illegal,” Horner told Germany’s Auto Motor og Sport on Thursday. However, the pipe made a completely different sound just 24 hours later:

– This definitely seems to mark all the points that make it legal, Horner said now.

The reaction came after Mercedes built a new side construction for the car’s rearview mirror. They are shaped like wings, something that some people in the Formula 1 circus react to.

The two leading teams have on several occasions accused each other of illegal upgrades to cars. Last year, Red Bull asked a question about the Mercedes superstar Lewis Hamilton Motorcycles, and Hamilton stated on another occasion that Red Bulls world champion Max Verstappen stretch the rules.

Red Bull first stated that the quote attributed to Horner was “false”, before clarifying that it was not “official”. The reporter in question, veteran reporter Michael Schmidt, supports the story.

Horner was faced with contradictory comments after Friday’s test drive in Bahrain.

– Comments have been reproduced which I of course did not provide. The car is innovative and is an attractive solution. The Mercedes looks like it complies with regulations. That’s just another interpretation, a different solution, replied the Red Bull boss and continued:

– Nothing really defines the spirit of the rules. Is it suitable or not. Actually it is not our right to judge.

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto also questioned Mercedes’ design on Thursday.

– The mirror is shocking – we didn’t expect that. We’ve always said that mirrors shouldn’t have an aerodynamic purpose, and the way they design their cars is a significant aero goal with mirrors, he said and continued:

– The risk in the future is that all teams will start designing mirrors that look like spaceships.

Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff stated on Thursday that he was not concerned about issues with the rules and that the governing body, the FIA, had been involved throughout the design process.

– It’s clear that sometimes when you come up with an innovation, it creates the kind of debate that we have here. That’s to be expected, Wolff said.

PS: This season you can follow all Formula 1 races on VG Live.