Renault’s Racing Point protest
The Racing Point Formula 1 team has dubbed Renault’s protest of its brake ducts after last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix “misconceived and poorly informed”, and has rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing.
Renault submitted a protest against both Racing Point cars after Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring, in which Sergio Perez and Lance
Stroll finished in sixth and seventh place respectively, just ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Renault believes that the front and rear brake ducts of the RP20 originate from a Mercedes design, which would not be allowed under the rules governing listed parts. The FIA stewards accepted the protest, and the matter will now be investigated. Both teams, along with Mercedes, will be required to provide evidence. Racing Point made its view clear in a statement given to Autosport.
“Racing Point is extremely disappointed to see its results in the Styrian GP questioned by what it considers to be a misconceived and poorly informed protest,” the statement read. “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.”
The team stressed that the FIA has been kept fully informed about what it was doing with its 2020 design: “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.”
Brake ducts, which clearly have a key aerodynamic influence, became a listed part – in other words, a key element for which teams are expected to create their own intellectual property – for the 2020 season.
Renault executive director Marcin Budkowski explained: “Basically we contend that the brake ducts front and rear that are used on the Racing Point are effectively a Mercedes design, and so have been designed by another competitor, which is in breach of the sporting regulations, more precisely Appendix 6, and therefore we protested the cars because of that.
“First of all brake ducts are a listed part, because they are a performance differentiator as they’re an aerodynamically sensitive component. And they are also pretty crucial in controlling tyre temperatures, which we know is a fairly major performance differentiator in F1. It’s not a Racing Point design, so it’s not their intellectual property. And that’s explicitly banned in the regulations.”
Racing Point is now in a difficult situation, in that the races are coming thick and fast, and yet the FIA investigation is several weeks away.
If it continues to run its current duct design and then eventually loses the case, there is a risk that it loses any results and points achieved in the interim. Clearly modifying the design, or switching to an alternative such as a 2019 version, will present some short-term compromises that could be difficult to integrate with a rapid run of F1 races coming up.