Racing Point claims the FIA is “completely happy” their 2020 car isn’t a ‘Pink Mercedes’ after visiting their Silverstone base.
The midfield outfit surprised their rivals by revealing a design which bears an uncanny resemblance to last year’s championship-winning W10 at pre-season testing back in February.
Racing Point has insisted, however, that the car was developed by them and simply took inspiration from the Mercedes, as both teams use the same engine and gearbox.
But that didn’t stop Renault from threatening to protest the RP20 when the 2020 season started.
“We don’t really know what the ground is that they are thinking of protesting about,” technical director Andrew Green told Motorsport.com.
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“When the car launched, we talked to the FIA about it, the FIA came round to the factory and looked at what we’d done and the designs of the car.
“They even took the design data from Mercedes for last year’s car and checked it against ours. They did a thorough check.
“And they are completely happy that the car that we’ve got on track has been designed by us.
“It may have some similarities to the Mercedes, but it’s just similar. It’s not the same, so there is no protest there,” he added.
“They can shout and scream as much as they want, but I think what they’re actually shouting and screaming about is the fact that they’ve missed a trick. And that’s what they’re upset about.”
During testing, the Racing Point emerged as the likely midfield leader and now the team could benefit from their copycat car for longer, this after it was agreed to keep the current designs until the end of 2021.