Racing Point admits to learning a lesson about the “ruthlessness” of their rivals after the brake duct fiasco during the summer.
This year, the Silverstone-based team irked most of the grid by designing what became known as a ‘Pink Mercedes’ as it was essentially a clone of last year’s W10.
To do this, Racing Point had bought non-listed parts from Mercedes and reverse-engineered others through photos and other data.
This led Renault to protest the legality of the car after the Styrian Grand Prix, with the stewards allowing their case to stand amid questions over their rear brake ducts.
Ultimately, the FIA deemed those ducts did break the rules on listed parts, ie parts each team must design and make themselves, and Racing Point was fined €400,000 but, more importantly, docked 15 points in the Constructors’ Championship.
Afterwards, more teams threatened to appeal for a harsher punishment or, in Racing Point’s case, to have the judgement overturned, but ultimately, they were all dropped after the FIA confirmed new rules on the issue of copying rival’s cars.
“There are a lot of lessons, including the ruthlessness of some of our competitors,” team boss Otmar Szafnauer told GPFans. “Don’t let the facts stand in the way of a good story, all that kind of stuff.
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“For example, from what we did to the brake ducts was completely legal, it was a transition year from listed parts to non-listed parts.
“We did nothing different and actually, our brake ducts were much more in line with the regulations than some others like Haas and Toro Rosso [AlphaTauri], for example, who just bought Ferrari ones. We actually designed them ourselves.
“So it just teaches you that even though you are on the right side of the regulations or the law, people can come after you anyway. That I have learnt.”
Though the matter went quiet after the appeals were dropped, the 15-point deduction actually ended up costing Racing Point third in the Constructors’, where they finished just nine points behind McLaren.
“It grates with me because I know we did absolutely nothing wrong,” Szafnauer added. “We informed the FIA in the winter before we started racing.
“Everything was okay and then people changed their minds. That’s the thing that grates with me.”