Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes there is “evidence” to suggest Mercedes broke the rules when helping Racing Point with their 2020 car.
Earlier this month, the Silverstone-based team was docked 15 Constructors’ points and fined 400k Euros after the stewards declared their rear brake ducts breached the sporting regulations on listed parts, as the original design and development work had been done by Mercedes.
However, that punishment didn’t sit well with any team on the grid and now three outfits, Renault and Ferrari seeking a harsher penalty and Racing Point looking for an acquittal, are appealing.
During this saga, Red Bull has rather sat on the sidelines watching it unfold, although team boss Christian Horner does expect some kind of compromise to be found.
“It’s relatively normal, it’s part of this soap opera that is Formula 1,” he told Channel 4.
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“Off-track obviously that appeal process has gone in, I don’t think there’s any chance in hell that it will end up in an appeal court.
“I think both teams are positioning and negotiating behind the scenes and the appeal is to effectively barter whether it’s between the teams or the FIA to get to a conclusion over what is and isn’t allowed and to keep all sides honest.
“I think ultimately, at the eleventh hour, miraculously a deal will be done that offers clarity.”
However, since the initial ruling has been handed down, some are beginning to ask more questions about the role of Mercedes in helping Racing Point create their 2020 car.
Earlier this week, former HRT team boss Colin Kolles, who was previously accused of trying to blackmail Toto Wolff in 2013, went as far as claiming the Silverstone-based team got a wind tunnel scale model of last year’s W10.
While Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also believes the German manufacturer might be culpable for the data they passed over.
“We expect clarification of what is allowed and what is not, without there being too many grey areas in the regulations,” he told SpeedWeek.
“What Racing Point did and what Mercedes did, that results in two perpetrators. I expect the FIA to define the terms before the next race.
“What is not understandable: Once a team is penalised, but is allowed to continue driving and is then warned at each race.
“It is clear to us: Copying as done by Racing Point is not permitted. Just as passing information on to competitors isn’t and there is evidence that Mercedes did that.
“The outcome of the proceedings is also decisive for the work between our Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri teams.
“We did not join the protest because Ferrari and Renault were two major teams that were active anyway.”
