The closing stages of the F1 campaign were marred by accusations from Red Bull that its title rival Mercedes was using flexi-wings to increase its straightline speed. The suspicion was that Mercedes had found a clever way for its main plane to flex down at high speed to help reduce drag. Red Bull even went as far as suggesting that marks seen on the Mercedes endplate were evidence of the wing moving, even though its rival was always adamant the marks were a red-herring. In response to Red Bull’s concerns about the situation, the FIA launched a fact-finding mission from the Qatar Grand Prix to better investigate the behaviour and characteristics of the rear wings of all the teams. While the new tests had no regulatory value, so were not to check on the legality of cars, it was hoped that they would pr …