Horner unfazed by RB19 floor reveal in Monaco

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner made little case of the most guarded area of its dominant RB19 - the car's floor – being exposed for all to see in Monaco.

As usual, crane operators were out in force in Monte Carlo last weekend, present at almost every corner to quickly evacuate from the track a stricken car.

On Saturday, the underbody of Mercedes' updated W14 was showed to the world, much to team boss Toto Wolff's ire, as it was lifted several stories up into the air at Mirabeau after Lewis Hamilton had crashed at the corner in F1's final practice session.

But a few hours later in qualifying, when Sergio Perez crashed out of Q1 at Ste Devote, it was Red Bull's turn to offer its rivals a chance to see in detail perhaps the most relevant part of the RB19's dominant aero package.

"It’s very rude to look up people’s skirts," Horner joked when asked if he was annoyed about the public exposure of the RB19's heavily guarded underside.

"It has been a bit of a show and tell from all the teams, everybody has been up in the air at some point. It's the same for everyone."

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Horner reckoned that the disclosure didn't reveal anything that Red Bull's rivals didn't already know or guess.

"I think pictures get taken in and around the paddock, they arrive in vans and work on the cars with shutters up," he added.

"Each team will be employing spy photographers to get pictures of the cars when they're in parts and pieces.

"That's common practice, so I wouldn't have thought it is the first time a picture of the floor...

"It is probably the first time it has been suspended from a crane, but I think all teams are always striving for that intelligence."

Interestingly, Aston Martin’s performance director Tom McCullough suggested the Red Bull floor reveal was not as insignificant as Horner made it out to be.

The Briton was relieved the team's AMR23 didn't get the crane treatment in Monaco.

"I’m sure the aerodynamicists will be having a good look at all the cars that have been lifted up," he said. "Thankfully ours haven’t been lifted up yet. Let’s try to keep it that way."

"The aerodynamicists never want you to share that," he added. "You learn a lot from just even how the plank’s wearing, you learn a lot from what’s touching [the ground].

"But there’s a lot of very excited aerodynamics up and down the pit lane looking at all those I dare say."

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