Lando Norris says Red Bull's controversial ride height gauge could have helped Max Verstappen in the title fight F1 news

Lando Norris says the controversial ride height control – which has led to Red Bull making changes to its car – could have helped Max Verstappen gain crucial advantages in the championship fight.

Red Bull confirmed on Thursday ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix that they had agreed a plan to modify the RB20 with the FIA ​​following discussions with the sport's governing body.

Rival teams suspected that a device on the Red Bull could allow them to advantageously change the car's ride height via the “bib” at the front of the floor in restricted “parc ferme” conditions, which would be in breach of sporting regulations.

While Red Bull confirmed the existence of the device, it insisted that it could not be used for anything inappropriate as it was not accessible when the car was fully assembled.

Before Red Bull commented, the FIA ​​had previously said it had “received no evidence of any team using such a system” but said using such a device was against the rules.

“It's one thing to have it on your car, but another thing is how much you exploit it and use it, which we have no idea about,” said Norris, who sits at the top of the drivers' championship with six points, 52 points behind Verstappen lies remaining rounds of the 2024 season.

“If it helped them, if they used it in a way that people believe they did, maybe it will change in our direction.”

“But when you talk about things like that, they won’t have won multiple pole positions or victories thanks to this device.”

“I don't think anything will change. Maybe in certain qualifying sessions, when it was split by hundredths or thousandths, you could say, 'Okay, maybe that helped in this direction or that.' '”

The controversy follows McLaren being asked by the FIA ​​to modify a “mini-DRS” rear wing on its car after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last month. The following week, Norris won a commanding victory in Singapore.

Norris added: “I think it’s good that the FIA ​​is doing something like that.”

“There is a difference between such black and white things, then a difference between Formula 1 and pushing the boundaries and creating new things, innovating within the space that you are allowed to innovate.”

“We did a good job as McLaren, but we certainly didn’t go any further.”

Verstappen: Device has no influence on performance

Both Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez insisted the device was of no use as it could no longer be used once the car was fully assembled, repeating the team's claims in their earlier statement.

In a statement released earlier Thursday, a Red Bull spokesperson said: “Yes, it exists, although it will no longer be accessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to drive.”

“In the numerous correspondence we have with the FIA, this part came up and we have agreed on a plan for the future.”

The FIA ​​previously said it would “make procedural adjustments to ensure that the spacing of the front start numbers cannot be easily changed” at this weekend's sprint event in Austin.

Details of the Red Bull design feature were available to other teams on FIA servers under open source parts regulations.

Asked about the team’s reaction to the situation, Verstappen said: “Nothing. I mean, it's open source, right? Everyone can see it.”

“For us it was just a simple tool that was easy to adjust once the parts were removed. But once the whole car is assembled, you can't touch it anymore. So nothing changes for us…”

“When I read it, I thought, 'Are there any other teams doing this?' And then I found out that it was related to our team. We never mentioned it in the briefings, so it's just a simpler tool to customize things.

When asked if the device had an impact on performance, Verstappen replied: “No.”

Perez added: “We didn’t do anything with it. We never actually talked about it. It was impossible.”

“I knew it existed, but it wasn’t available to us.”

Norris is confident as Verstappen hopes the upgrades will have an impact

The controversy has only added to the intensity surrounding the resumption of title contention, as there has been a nearly month-long break for tension to build since Norris' great win in Singapore last time out.

Norris says his expectations for McLaren are higher than at the Marina Bay Circuit, which is ominous for Red Bull and the rest of the field.

“Probably more (confident),” said the Brit. “If you look at where we were here last year compared to the car we had compared to Singapore, I think this was a better weekend for us.”

“We led the first half of the race. It was a good weekend. A few things have changed on this track with the new surfaces, so there are always questions to answer.”

“Given our performance last year in the last three, four, five races, we are confident that we can be at the top.”

Verstappen hopes Red Bull can give McLaren a tougher challenge than in Singapore, where Norris won by more than 20 seconds, but admits he doesn't expect upgrades to the RB20 to “completely change” the current pecking order.

The Dutchman said: “If you look at the pace difference in Singapore, that is certainly not the case (the upgrades are not enough to catch up with McLaren).”

“But every route is different. We know that Singapore is not our strongest route anyway. But I don’t expect that it will suddenly be completely different and that we will be the dominant car.”

“We had already reached our limits a little bit with this car all year, now we're trying to do better. But I don’t expect it to completely falter.”

Sky Sports F1's live United States GP schedule

Friday, October 18th
6:00 p.m.: First United States GP practice (session begins at 6:30 p.m.*)
8.30 p.m.: Press conference of the team bosses
10:00 p.m.: Sprint qualifying for the United States GP (qualifying begins at 10:30 p.m.*)

Saturday, October 19th
6:00 p.m.: Preparation for the sprint to the United States GP
7:00 p.m.: United States GP Sprint
8:30 p.m.: Ted's sprint notebook
10:00 p.m.: Preparation for qualifying for the United States GP*
11:00 p.m.: United States GP qualifying*
(Sunday) 1am: Ted's Qualifications Notebook

Sunday, October 20th
6:30 p.m.: Grand Prix Sunday: Preparation for the United States GP*
8:00 p.m.: THE GRAND PRIX OF THE UNITED STATES*
10 p.m.: Checkered flag: United States GP reaction
11 p.m.: Ted's notebook

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (race preparation on Sunday from 7:15 p.m.)

Just six races left in Formula 1 2024 and the season continues with a sprint weekend at the United States Grand Prix in Austin from this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month membership – no contract, cancel anytime