Racing Point has firmly rejected any legality questions over its 2020 car after Renault protested following the Styrian Grand Prix.
Since rolling out of the garage for pre-season testing back in February the current ‘Pink Panther’ has instead been dubbed a ‘Pink Mercedes’ due to its near-identical design to last year’s W10.
This has led their main midfield rivals, Renault and McLaren, to ponder whether that likeness is, as Racing Point has argued, due to taking inspiration from last year’s Silver Arrow or whether their partnership with Mercedes has actually stepped over the regulations.
During the first race weekend in Austria though, McLaren ruled out a protest doubting there were any grounds on which to do so.
But on Sunday, Renault, who have been considering the possibility more strongly, pulled the trigger after Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth, directly behind both Racing Point cars.
“BWT Racing Point F1 Team is extremely disappointed to see its results in the Styrian Grand Prix questioned by what it considers to be a misconceived and poorly informed protest,” the team responded in a statement to Motorsport.com.
Also Read:
- Is Racing Point faster than Red Bull? ‘Everyone should be worried’ says Horner
- Racing Point ‘finding performance’ as McLaren claim their showing 2019 Mercedes potential
“Any and all suggestion of wrongdoing is firmly rejected and the team will take all steps necessary to ensure the correct application of the regulations to the facts.
“Prior to the start of the season, the team cooperated with the FIA and satisfactorily addressed all questions regarding the origins of the designs of the RP20.
“The team is confident that the protest will be dismissed once it has presented its response.”
However, the stewards would declare Renault’s protest as admissable and immediately impounded the front and rear brake ducts on both cars as well as requiring Mercedes to supply the same parts from their 2019 car.
Now an investigation and hearing is to be held on whether Racing Point and Mercedes have breached the regulations regarding the use of listed parts.
But should no action be taken, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko fears it would set a dangerous precedent.
“If Racing Point and Mercedes get away with their little game, we could see up to eight Mercedes, six Ferrari, four Red Bull and two Renault on the starting grid next year,” he told Germany’s Sport1.
However, another unnamed rival team boss has suggested the FIA could do what they did with Ferrari over its 2019 engine and reach some kind of settlement.
“The FIA will find a compromise. Racing Point will probably only have to change the brake vents, which Renault denounced in Spielberg as a banned copy of the 2019 Silver Arrow,” they predicted.
“In the case of Ferrari, the FIA also agreed to a lazy compromise in order not to endanger Formula 1 as a whole.”
