Red Bull's Christian Horner has expressed confusion about the complaints Aston Martin have raised about the changes to the aerodynamic regulations. The changes, introduced over the winter break, have focused on reducing rear downforce through simplification of the floor and diffuser area, and have, in theory, hurt the low-rake cars like Mercedes and Aston Martin more than high-rake philosophy cars like the Red Bull. While Mercedes have mumbled concerns about their relative losses, Aston Martin have been particularly vocal in their complaints, with team boss Otmar Szafnauer seeking a mid-season rules change in order to rectify the balance. "I think the right thing to do is to have a discussion with the FIA and find out exactly what happened," Szafnauer told Sky Sports F1 . "Then see if there's something that could be done to make it more equitable." Horner was left distinctly unimpressed by Szafnauer's comments, saying he was surprised to hear such complaints. "We've had a sample of one race that Mercedes won with what you would classify a low rake car," Horner told Sky Sports F1 . " They had absolutely equal, if not maybe better tyre degradation than we had in Bahrain. "They've looked mighty impressive here. And we've only run at one circuit so far. But, ignoring all of that, there is a process for regulations to be introduced. "They were voted through unanimously through the different regulations that Aston Martin would have had to vote for, before being passed through the Formula One Commission and the World [Motor Sport] Council. And they were all voted through unanimously. "Now, when there was a front wing change a couple of years ago, it really hurt us. We voted against it, but you just have to accept it. "So it would seem a little naive to think that, suddenly, the rules are just going to get changed after the sample of a single race after the process has been fully followed. I'm struggling to get my head around that." When asked about whether there is the possibility that the rules were changed in order to slow down the low-rake Mercedes, which also affected Aston Martin, Horner had no doubt that moves are constantly made in order to reign in a dominant team. "That's the nature of the game," Horner said. "So, whether it was blown diffusers, double diffusers, Flexi wings, non-Flexi wings, your F-ducts, front wing regs as I mentioned just a couple of years ago, it's part of Formula 1. "The regulations evolve and change and you've got to swing with those punches. And that is Formula One. We've got a big regulation change for next year, but the teams have known that that's been part of the history of the sport for many, many years."
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