Haas have lodged a protest with the FIA over the legality of Force India in a matter believed to be related to their mid-season change of ownership.
In the regulations, each team is to enter a chassis into the championship which has been independently designed and built.
However, when the Silverstone-based outfit changed their entry to Racing Point Force India prior to the Belgian Grand Prix, if the design and intellectual property associated was not passed over in the takeover, the current incarnation of the team has theoretically been racing a car that isn’t theirs.
All of this, ultimately, is about prize money because if Haas can prove that a regulation has been broken, Force India could be disqualified from the Constructors’ Championship.
Also, it may be related to what is known as ‘Column 1’ payments from Liberty Media which usually a new entrant can’t get until having completed three years on the grid.
Haas have been bound to that rule since joining F1 in 2016 and could be seeking some kind of compensation should the Racing Point Force India entry be exempt.
This comes at the end of a year when the American team has also come under a fair amount of scrutiny with complaints of being a Ferrari copy at the start of the year, then Romain Grosjean was excluded at the Italian Grand Prix for an illegal floor.
In the Constructors’ standings, Haas are secure in fifth while Force India sit seventh and could still be in range of McLaren for sixth and Sauber behind in eighth.