All teams have the ability to adjust the front bib and hence the ride height which massively affects performance in this ground effect era. Ideally, cars would run it much lower during quali because they don't carry as much fuel weight for obvious performance benefits. Then ideally for the race, they would raise it up a bit to compensate for the extra fuel load to minimize plank wear being too high and possible porpoising.
However, they can't do this. Between the end of quali and into the race (parc ferme conditions) the car is meant to be kept at the same setup. Even if the team have to do a major repair or swap say the gearbox, the ride height has to stay the same. How the FIA police this I don't know.
From what I can understand, the controversy around Redbull is that they have a system in place where the bib adjustment can be made from inside the cockpit, possibly by turning a screw in the floor from above. Other teams I think, have to do it from underneath and is a more complex procedure having to disassemble more parts. Now, people's minds turn to the thought of how easy it would be for Redbull to breach parc ferme conditions by adjusting this after quali and before the race, fairly easily, quickly and undetected. However, the Redbull statement quickly addresses this:
A senior team representative said: "Yes it exists although it is inaccessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to run."
and
"In the numerous correspondence we have with the FIA, this part came up and we have agreed a plan going forward."
Although they say it is inaccessible once the car is setup and ready to run, this might just mean once Max/Sergio is sat in the car it would not be easy to adjust. In any case, even if the screw/adjustment method was literally on the steering wheel, proof is still going to be required to call out that this has been happening. This is surely not going to be achievable just through looking at photographs and video footage to calculate ride height. That's not going to be accurate/fair enough.
It leaves a sour taste in particular this one because where with flexi wings there is controversy over the legality of a part, that part is the same throughout the weekend. To have adjusted things during parc ferme is a massive breach and unfair advantage. With the history of Redbull, many people will have already decided in their mind that they have been exploiting this for years.
EDIT: I believe Redbull are the only team to have this setup to allow for easier adjustment of the bib.
www.crash.net
