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Formula 1 confirm testing changes after Red Bull complaints about Mercedes

The testing on rear wings in the 2022 Formula 1 season will be changed after Red Bull's persistent complaints.

Red Bull chief Christian Horner was vocal with his criticisms around Mercedes' rear wing in the 2021 season.(Image: (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images))

Formula 1's head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis has confirmed that changes to the testing procedure for rear wings will be changed ahead of the 2022 season.

Last year saw the fiercest title fight in modern F1 history, with Max Verstappen eventually ending victorious, and the campaign saw both Red Bull and Mercedes head-to-head on and off the track.

Red Bull chief Christian Horner lodged complaints about Mercedes' rear wing, believing it was 'hidden in the way it operates' and resulted in additional downforce for Lewis Hamilton's car.

Those complaints saw a new testing procedure introduced for the Qatar Grand Prix, which found no breaches of regulations, but improvements will be made for the new season.

“In Qatar, there was no monkey business identified, or anything like that," Tombazis told motorsport.com.

“We didn’t find something that was concerning. It was not a bad test, but it can be improved. So we’re thinking how to maybe make some improvements to it for next year [2022], potentially.

“The reason the test is not so good is technically the trailing edge of the main plane is going quite upwards. If you load it in the downward direction, it’s quite stiff, so we want to manage to load it in a direction that is normal.

“But then it’s a bit more difficult because we can’t use gravity. So we need to fine tune it, and it needs a bit more give to be prepared for it. It’s not impossible, of course.”