Racing Point are confident the FIA’s bid to limit teams’ ability to copy each other will not impact their approach from next year.
This year, the Silverstone-based team has stirred controversy from attempting to replicate last year’s Mercedes W10 through a combination of data and non-listed parts bought from the German manufacturer as well as images of the 2019 Silver Arrow.
Racing Point were caught out by a regulation change, which saw them fined 400k Euros and docked 15 Constructors’ points for reproducing rear brake ducts which they’d got from Mercedes last year but become a listed part for this year.
But as the FIA works to alter the regulations and prevent other teams from replicating Racing Point’s model, they claim it won’t affect them.
“I don’t think it changes our business model at all. We’re not the most affected team,” CEO Otmar Szafnauer said via F1i.com.
Also Read:
- Racing Point: ‘If we were 14th or 15th, no one would be protesting’
- Wolff adamant Racing Point/ Mercedes broke no rules, open to ‘copycat’ car debate
- Red Bull’s Marko: There’s ‘evidence’ Mercedes broke rules in Racing Point case
“We’ve got 500 employees. The reason we don’t have 700 or 800 like some of the bigger teams is that we lack in-house manufacturing.
“But if you just compare us to everyone else in design, development, aero personnel, we are the same. We’re the same as the big teams. It has zero impact.”
The point of controversy for teams like McLaren, Renault and Ferrari is that what Racing Point has done by cloning another team’s car basically doesn’t abide by the traditional definition of a constructor that designs, develops and produces its own car.
But again Szafnauer refutes that.
“We’ve always been a constructor, from the days of Jordan to the days of Racing Point and everywhere in between,” said the American.
“We’ve got the capability of designing, developing, and constructing all of our own components.
“It will have zero impact on our business model. If the rules become more clear, we will stay within the bounds of those rules. Absolutely no problem.”
One limit to their approach, however, is continuing to improve a design that Mercedes spent tens of millions trying to perfect and indeed, Racing Point admit there is a risk that the team drops back as the year progresses.
“Our only upgrade will probably be ready for Monza,” Szafnauer revealed.
“If the others keep on developing, they will get closer and closer and be faster on some tracks. We will have to live with that.
“We are already looking carefully at 2021.”