Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff isn't anticipating a legal dispute over the radical design of its new F1 car's sidepods, insisting the concept was given the all-clear by the FIA.
The Brackley squad rolled out a heavily revised W13 Silver Arrow on Thursday in Bahrain ahead of the start of F1's second round of pre-season testing in Bahrain.
The car's main feature that turned many heads in the pitlane at Sakhir is the remarkably slim shape of the W13's sidepods that start out with a very narrow air inlet and shrink even further towards the rear.
Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reported an off the record comment by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner who allegedly said that Mercedes' radical approach did not comply with the "spirit" of the rules.
Red Bull later clarified its stance, insisting that no "official" comment on Mercedes' car had been made.
But as far as Wolff is concerned, the legality of Mercedes' innovative sidepod suffers no doubt.
"The process is very clear, when you go in a specific development direction with your team, having the FIA as part of scrutinising it, you're exchanging CAD data and making them part of the process," he said in Bahrain," Wolff told the media on Thursday in Bahrain.
However, Mercedes' concept could still be called into question by its rivals as F1's governance structure allows a regulation to be changed in-season by a super majority 80 per cent vote, if the FIA and F1 also support a change.
Wolff acknowledged the scrutiny Mercedes has attracted but trusts the FIA and F1 to handle the matter "with diligence and in the spirit of the sport".
"It's clear that sometimes when you come with an innovation, it creates the kind of debate that we're having here," commented the Austrian.
"That's why that was expected. We have the new governance with the super majority that's needed.
"My opinion is that I would have preferred to stay with the old system, and if a team comes up with an innovation, possibly you can't take it off the car if it's compliant with the regulations.
"I think the FIA and Formula 1 will for sure handle that with diligence, in the spirit of the sport. We were keen in not running alone with that, but being in touch with the FIA, that's why I think it will be okay."
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