Racing Point ‘should be pleased’ with protests
Racing Point drivers Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll believe the protests made by their rivals detract from the credit the team deserves
Ex-F1 team boss Eddie Jordan believes Racing Point should be “pleased” by the protests against them since it shows rivals are concerned.
Racing Point came into the 2020 season armed with their RP20 which looked very much like the Mercedes W10 of 2019.
The team said that they had done this through taking plenty of pictures of that car and reverse engineering from those images, not by receiving drawings from the six-time Constructors’ champions – which would be illegal.
One team who are not convinced by Racing Point’s defence is Renault.
Following the Styrian Grand Prix they lodged a formal appeal against both RP20s, focusing on their brake ducts.
“We actually believe Racing Point have received drawings and parts which have been used to build their car this year,” former FIA man turned Renault executive director Marcin Budkowski previously told Sky F1.
“If the FIA finds that these brake ducts are designed by another team, then I would expect that they would then expect the rest of the car.
“The brake ducts are an essential performance differentiator of the car. People think maybe they are a little duct to cool the brakes but today they are an important aerodynamic performance element.
“They can also help control the temperature of the tyres so it is really an essential part of F1 nowadays as much as a front wing or a diffuser is.
“There are parts of the brake ducts which are internal geometries where you cannot see any pictures. It is therefore difficult to copy by definition of a picture.”
Renault trying to find evidence to prove the Racing Point is illegal https://t.co/yd9ZVTxSHR
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) July 25, 2020
Renault launched an identical protest against Racing Point after the Hungarian Grand Prix, but the team are clear in saying that they have not broken the regulations in any way.
This may seem like quite the headache for Racing Point, but Jordan believes the team should be pleased by these protests, since it shows just how worried their rivals like Renault are.
“If I was Racing Point, I’d be really quite pleased,” he said on the F1 Nation podcast.
“And I’ll tell you why: because when people go out of their way to protest you, they’re clearly concerned about you.
“The legal side, whether it is legal or isn’t legal, is certainly beyond me. I’m not a steward and I’m certainly not a technical judge, and it will come out and emerge in the fullness of time.
“I’d be surprised if they actually involved themselves in skulduggery where there was actually a blatant cheat or breaking the rules. I just don’t see that, it’s not something in their make-up as far as I’m concerned, and this could be a little bit of sour grapes on behalf of some of the teams.”
Lance Stroll secured Racing Point’s best result of the season so far in Hungary with P4, whilst the team currently hold P4 in the Constructors’ Championship.
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