In usual circumstances, other teams would have to follow Racing Point’s lead in trying to copy Mercedes in 2021, Williams have claimed.
This year, the Silverstone-based team has easily been the most improved thanks to a controversial approach that has seen them recreate last year’s W10 through a combination of photographs and buying in as many non-listed parts as possible.
Due to a delay of the new technical regulations and limits on development agreed as a cost-saving measure in the wake of Covid-19, all teams are now essentially stuck with their current chassis’ until the end of next season.
But such are the gains that Racing Point has made, challenging Red Bull for the second-fastest car, normally that would trigger their rivals into considering the same approach to ensure they kept up.
“I think potentially you would have to,” Williams head of vehicle performance, Dave Robson told Motorsport.com.
“I think it is clear that for quite a few years Mercedes has been the standout car. Even though the Red Bull and Ferrari at times have excelled at certain circuits, the Mercedes is a go-anywhere package.
“However they do it, it is phenomenal and their pace [in Hungary was] just borderline outrageous compared to the rest of the field.
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“When you look at the harsh reality of that, and you look at the way Racing Point have been able to do it, then you would have to give it a serious go I think.
“If there is that much lap time to be found and that is the way to find it, I think you would have to follow that route.”
While that won’t happen, what it has done has caused a staunch debate on the legality of Racing Point’s approach, with Renault protesting the front and rear brake ducts of the RP20 at the past two races.
Some though have played it down, noting teams have been copying each other for decades albeit perhaps not quite to the level Racing Point has.
“There’s obviously copying [which] is not just copying,” McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl was quoted by F1i.com.
“There’s copying which has always been around in Formula 1, and which is part of Formula 1.
“We have tried to analyse what competitors are doing by pictures that are publicly available, pictures you can take in the pit lane or on-track.
“I think no-one has any problem with copying parts or cars from these pictures.
“What is more important is to simply clarify and maybe also change the regulations on what can be done in terms of copying beyond this copying, where you only use publicly-available information.
“There’s room in the regulations at the moment that you can do actually a lot more, that you can do co-operations on wind tunnel technology, on the way you use the wind tunnel, on the way how you map your car in the wind tunnel.
“Also in the way how you get access to pictures of cars, and so on. I think that’s something that needs to be clarified, that we have a clear direction on what Formula 1 wants to allow there in the future.”
A ruling on the legality of the Racing Point by the stewards is expected any day now, though most expect Renault’s protest will be rejected.
And though the constant questions have been a pain for team bosses and drivers, Eddie Jordan thinks they should be flattered.
“If I was Racing Point, I’d be really quite pleased,” he told the F1 Nation podcast.
“I’ll tell you why: because when people go out of their way to protest you, they’re clearly concerned about you.
“The legal side, whether it is legal or isn’t legal, is certainly beyond me. I’m not a steward and I’m certainly not a technical judge, and it will come out and emerge in the fullness of time.
“I’d be surprised if they actually involved themselves in skulduggery where there was actually a blatant cheat or breaking the rules.
“I just don’t see that it’s not something in their make-up as far as I’m concerned, and this could be a little bit of sour grapes on behalf of some of the teams.”
