Quest for power.

Is there any benefit to be had from removing the flexible ducting pipe which comes from the squiggly shaped thing on the driver's side wing near the ABS unit?

I'm of the opinion that it restricts air flow due to its shape.

Can we do without it - especially in the Winter?

Doubt you will notice any difference lol

You can remove the whole airbox assembly easily enough and install a eBay special induction kit there instead to remove any restrictions, although the benefits will be marginal.

You don't want to be sucking hot air though as that is even worse for power, so try to retain a cold air feed/box to pop the filter element in or go for a Venom type filter that has a fully sealed element and you can snake the cold air feed somewhere where it will source cold air (but NOT water!)