Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says that Mercedes "intense lobbying" and finger pointing at his team this season is a tell-tale sign that the Milton Keynes-based outfit is "doing something right".
Earlier this season, after the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes put Red Bull's RB16B and its flexible rear wing under the spotlight, a move that compelled the FIA to rely on more stringent load tests for aero appendices.
The Brackley squad also publicly alluded to Honda's engine gains, comments that sparked a rumor of a technical directive issued by the FIA and directed at the Japanese manufacturer's power unit.
But Horner simply sees Mercedes' plaints and insinuations as an irked reaction to the strong "threat" represented by Red Bull Racing this season.
"They've put an awful lot of energy into that, more than you would expect," Horner told Motorsport.com when asked about Mercedes' lobbying. "It's been a clear strategy.
"But I think it just shows that they see us as a threat. And I think that you're doing something right when people start pointing fingers."
Crashes and circumstances at Silverstone and at the Hungaroring took a toll on the lead enjoyed by Red Bull and Max Verstappen in their respective championships.
The Dutchman head into F1's summer break with an 8-point deficit to Lewis Hamilton in the driver's championship while Red Bull is now 12 points adrift from Mercedes in the Constructors' standings.
Horner believes his team has benefitted from F1's status quo in terms of regulations, but the Briton ensures that Red Bull-Honda's package has made a genuine step forward compared to last year.
"We've benefited obviously from a degree of continuity of the carryover components," said Horner.
"I think the fact of the correlation had come together, that we understood where our issues were and were able to address those, I think that was the key element, certainly for the first six months of this year.
"We were actually concerned the rules were going to have a big effect on the high rake cars. I think it was a combination of things: that we managed to understand some of our issues, managed to address an awful lot of them and just make a more rounded packaged.
"I think that, combined with Honda pulling their engine that was originally scheduled for 2022 into this year, being that final season in Formula 1, which was a Herculean effort on their side. It has enabled everything to come together."
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