Renault is using the precedent of their own disqualification from last year’s Japanese Grand Prix in a push for Racing Point to lose more points in their appeal.
Last Friday, the Silverstone-based team was docked 15 Constructors’ points and fined 400k Euros by the stewards as they upheld three protests by Renault and ruled the rear brake ducts on their 2020 car breached the sporting regulations regarding listed parts.
Unhappy with the ruling, however, the French manufacturer, along with Ferrari, appealed this week seeking a harsher punishment.
And explaining why, team boss Cyril Abiteboul compared the case to that Racing Point brought against Renault last year, in which the team was found guilty of using an automated brake bias system.
“We were expecting a consistent sanction with other sanctions that we’ve seen in the past,” the Frenchman said.
“The most recent one we accepted last year [was] after Suzuka, when we were found in breach of the sporting regulations, and not the technical regulations, and excluded from that event, therefore losing all our points.
“There was no discount for Renault, so I don’t know why there should be a discount for Racing Point.
“It should be all the points of the events that we’ve been protested.”
If that was the case, it would leave Racing Point with just the eight points they scored in the Austrian Grand Prix, with Renault protesting each race since.
Instead, under the current ruling, the team only receives a reprimand from the stewards for their continued use of the brake ducts.
“After every single event, [Racing Point CEO] Otmar [Szafnauer] will be called to the stewards, his brake ducts will be found similar to what they were and unchanged, and he will receive again a reprimand,” Abiteboul said.
“We are facing again a prospect of what, 10 races, where his cars will be reprimanded. It’s a bit of a strange situation.
“We’d like to have also a bit more clarity about that, not necessarily saying they should be excluded for the season.
“But from a communication standpoint to the fans, to the public, explaining why a car is still somewhat in breach because it will receive a reprimand, but it’s OK to be part of the championship and therefore be eligible for points, we think it’s a bit awkward.
“We’d like also some closure about that if possible.”
Also Read:
- Wolff playing provocateur and peacemaker in Racing Point case
- Stroll blasts ‘unacceptable’ cheating claims as Racing Point reprimanded again
- Ferrari, Renault pursue Racing Point appeal, McLaren & Williams pull out
For their part, Racing Point has also appealed seeking to overturn the original decision, and Szafnauer remains confident of its success.
“We’ve appealed the decision based on what the stewards had written in their findings, and the findings are pretty clear that we didn’t do anything underhand or dishonest,” Szafnauer said.
“We were completely transparent and open with the FIA throughout their process of checking both our brake ducts and the remainder of our car.
“They concluded that the rule, especially for brake ducts transitioning from a non-listed part to a listed part were ambiguous and unclear.
“Because of it, we believe our punishment for an unclear and ambiguous rule that we didn’t intentionally contravene is a bit harsh.
“It’s the reason we’re appealing, and we’re very confident we’ll win on the appeal.”