Mercedes investigating 'nice clutch' of Red Bull floor photos

Mercedes was gifted with a "nice clutch" of Red Bull floor images following the Monaco Grand Prix, after their floor was exposed during the recovery of Sergio Perez's crash in qualifying.

The underside of the floor was visible to many of the trackside photographers, who are positioned around the track at strategic points to capture details on rivals cars.

Mercedes Technical Director, James Allison, said the high resolution images gives Mercedes aerodynamicists something to "pore over" for their future car developments.

"There is a lot of scurrying around with team camera men, not just to rely on the TV pictures which are low resolution and not good enough grade," he said on the Mercedes Strategy Debrief.

"Photographers are positioned at strategic parts of the track where there is a likelihood that the cranes will be brought into play and there they are clicking away furiously, and then our inbox is subsequently filled with high resolution images of other cars.

"We got a nice clutch of Red Bull imagery and that's always a good thing for our aerodynamicists to pore over and see if we can pick out details that will be of interest to us in our ongoing test programme."

Allison: Sadly our own car took a trip to the heavens

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted that he had no issue with the exposure of their floor, quipping "it's very rule to look up people's skirts."

Mercedes was also at the brunt of the camera lenses when Lewis Hamilton crashed at the end of FP3 at Mirabeau and had to be recovered with a crane.

"Sadly, our own car had its trip into the heavens this weekend and there will be plenty of photos in our competitor’s inboxes from that," said Allison.

Toto Wolff was left unimpressed with the recovery, claiming that the car removal looked like something out of 'Cirque du Soleil' as it showcased their major upgrades.