Red Bull and Mercedes are bracing themselves for official protests later this month about the legality of their 2017 cars.
Both teams are expecting rivals including Ferrari to make an official complaint to the FIA about allegedly illegal 'active suspension' systems. According to 2017's new technical rules 2017, any team using such suspension must prove that any aerodynamic boost is incidental.
While both Red Bull and Mercedes team bosses are confident their cars are within the rules, their rivals could still object. Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has been particularly vocal about launching a protest.
"If Arrivabene wants to look a fool, he can quietly continue to work in this direction," a Mercedes source was quoted as saying by Auto Motor und Sport.
Such a formal protest about a car's legality can only take place during a Grand Prix weekend. The first race of the season is in Melbourne, Australia on March 26.
"Our system was always legal, so this clarification does not concern us," insisted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. "I think it's the usual posing before the season starts.
"If someone wants to file a protest then they should file a protest. I think it's pretty clear: we don't go anywhere near what we see as dangerous territory," he added. "There may be other teams that have stretched the rules a little bit, we don't know."
Christian Horner said that the problem was the vagueness of the relevant regulation's wording.
"The FIA seems to be happy with the way we have interpreted the rules. If anyone has problems with that, they have the right to protest," he said.
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