Red Bull has denied that the team were involved in an illegal pre-season test according to reports in the German media.
Details emerged which suggested Red Bull or sister team Toro Rosso conducted an illegal test ahead of the Australian Grand Prix in order to aid Renault in their bid to be ready for the first race.
The facility in question features a 100 per cent scale rolling road and is based in Austria. It is regularly used by F1 teams.
Whilst Red Bull denied any involvement, the team also noted that such testing is permitted under the regulations under certain circumstances.
“Red Bull Racing didn’t conduct the test laid out in the article,” a spokesperson told The F1 Times.
“The test mentioned in the article would be permitted by the regulations, but in any case Red Bull Racing didn’t do it.”
In fact, as long as certain parts of the bodywork aren’t attached to the car, such as the front-wing and no airflow is passing over the car, the facility can be used outside of the testing restrictions as it doesn’t fall into the wind tunnel category according to Appendix 8 of the Sporting Regulations.
Therefore, even if Red Bull or sister team Toro Rosso had been using the facility as reported, it would be completely legal.
This article has been edited following new information.