Horner clarifies Mercedes comments and what Red Bull will do next

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says he is "surprised" to have read comments attributed to him regarding Mercedes' new 'sidepod-less' car. Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel, took to the track in Bahrain on Thursday morning armed with a radical new sidepod design for pre-season testing. The design has seen the sidepods slimmed down dramatically, tightly packaging the W13's cooling system and narrowing the cooling inlets, making the car appear to have no sidepods at all, thus being dubbed 'sidepod-less'. In response to the new Mercedes design, Horner is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport as saying: "The new Mercedes violates the spirit of the regulations. For us, some parts are not legal." The alleged comments, that have spread on social media, have since been branded "incorrect" by a Red Bull spokesperson .

Horner: It's obviously a different concept

When asked about the alleged comments, live on F1 TV , Horner said: "I'm just slightly surprised to be reading comments I am supposed to have been making, but there we go." He added: "I haven't paid a great deal of attention to it [the Mercedes]. It's obviously a fairly different concept but that's for the aero guys and the designers to get into." Horner was then asked if he believes Mercedes will be allowed to go racing with their new sidepods, to which he responded: "That's something beyond perhaps my technical competence. Let's let the guys all digest it and understand it. "This is obviously the first time we have seen the car, this morning. I have no idea [whether it is a game-changer]."