Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has laughed off suggestions that his team are using illegal traction control to gain an unfair advantage over their rivals.
The speculation came after Sebastian Vettel dominated the Singapore Grand Prix, lapping some two seconds quicker than any other car.
It was further fuelled by former team-owner Giancarlo Minardi’s comments. The Italian questioned the RB9’s legality and demanded answers as to why he was so much quicker.
Horner though has called the suggestions “stupid”.
“You would be fairly stupid to introduce traction control on to a car that is governed on a single ECU, which is done through a tender of the FIA and which is scrupulously checked by the FIA,” he said.
“So, I cannot image any team in the pit lane would do it.”
The British team principal believes rivals and fans are simply clutching at straws in an attempt to find an answer to Red Bull’s dominance.
“I think the problem is that Sebastian’s performance was so dominant in Singapore , it will inevitably raise questions of how is that possible,” he added.
“Other teams will be looking inwardly and the easiest conclusion to come to is that they [Red Bull] must be cheating.
“But these things are so tightly controlled that it is impossible. The facts are he drove an incredible race in Singapore. He had incredible pace.
“He maximised the most out of the car, and was a driver at absolute peak form. Is it [traction control talk] a distraction? No. Will we lose any sleep over it? Absolutely not.”
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