In addition to the show on the track, the Monegasque weekend unfolded some ‘real secrets’ as well. As expected, the narrow corners of Monte Carlo delivered peak adrenaline without any shortage of major accidents. First Lewis Hamilton‘s Mercedes and then Sergio Perez’s Red Bull actually ‘tasted’ the walls of Monaco on Saturday. Following their crash, the track marshals, in order to clear the damaged cars off the track as quickly as possible, chose to use cranes. The crane operators lifted the single-seaters several stories high and knocked them out of the way. However, this crane episode revealed the biggest secrets about both the leading Formula 1 team!

Although this was done without the cars having any type of coverage, it allowed photographers a good time portraying the most important and secret area of an F1: the floor. This revealed the secrets of the car’s floor and aerodynamics, allowing their rivals to probe and benefit. Annoyed by it, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff joked that the crane operator must have been trained by the ‘Cirque du Soleil’ [French for Circus of the Sun]. Echoing Wolff, Red Bull TP Christian Horner also launched some digs at the commissioners after Perez’s crash.

Throwing in a dash of irony, Horner jokingly said, as quoted by Formula Passion, “It’s very impolite to look up people’s skirts“. However, Horner then further toned down, confirming that, in reality, it is a common practice for every team to spy on their opponents to snatch useful secrets to develop their single-seater. So he added, “Many photos are taken in the paddock. Each team employs spy photographers to take pictures of the other cars when they are damaged and parts are visible, which is common practice.” [Translated via Google]

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Despite Horner’s warning, F1 teams have already started analyzing crane photos for secrets of the Red Bull floor. 

Red Bull is probably more annoyed over the Monaco Crane episode: Mercedes

Realistically, it was difficult to think that a narrow and winding track like Monaco, is almost totally devoid of escape routes. But, it is true. So, both Mercedes and Red Bull saw their cars lifted by a crane, exposing their floor for everyone to see. However, Mercedes believes Red Bull will be more concerned about their floor secrets being exposed than them.

While RB19 has already proven itself as the most dominant car in almost every aspect, the reason behind its performance is “one of the great mysteries” of the 2023 F1 season. But the mystery surrounding the floor of the RB19 – the most dominant car in F1 – was finally revealed in the Monaco GP. So, Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, believes that Red Bull would likely be ‘more annoyed’ than Mercedes that rivals could take a look at their design. 

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“I suspect they’re probably more annoyed about their car being left in the sky than we would be about ours,” Shovlin said. Further explaining how the pictures can be gathered to work out where teams are exploiting areas of the regulations, he added: “With these regulations, the most important bit is the bit you don’t normally get to see. So the teams will be all over those kinds of photographs. Monaco is a good opportunity to get that kind of shot.”

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How will these revelations change the course of F1? Well, that’s yet to be revealed.