Why Racing Point’s ‘2019 Mercedes’ was finally protested Renault’s formal protest of the legality of the 2020 Racing Point Formula 1 car design following the Styrian Grand Prix brings a long-running grievance to a head. The similarities of the RP20 to last year’s Mercedes have been known since the car was publicly unveiled at pre-season testing and Racing Point has not shied away from the fact the 2019 Mercedes was the inspiration for its car design. “If Racing Point complies with the regulations then they have nothing to worry about” - Cyril Abiteboul However it has always insisted that the 2019 Mercedes was only ever an inspiration – Racing Point says it simply studied the car from photographs any team could have gathered, and did not create its interpretation of the design through illegal means. Its argument is that it needed to stop designing a car against the fundamental principles of Mercedes’ engine and gearbox layout – which it uses – and embrace the aero concept Mercedes has made work so effectively. But Renault’s protest shows the French manufacturer, which has been the team hinting most at a protest since February, does not believe this has been done fairly. Renault has been more cautious with vocalising its frustration in recent weeks but team boss Cyril Abiteboul said ahead of the first part of the Austrian double-header that Racing Point has pushed “an old debate about customers…to an extreme this year”. It has now decided to show its position through action rather than words, despite Racing Point not achieving what it should have done in the Styrian Grand Prix. Renault has alleged that Racing Point’s car doesn’t conform to the Listed Parts rules that require a team to produce certain components themselves. These rules do permit a team to outscore the design and/manufacture of Listed Parts to a third party but Renault alleges that Racing Point does not have the “exclusive right to use the Listed Parts” in F1, and that Mercedes or one of Mercedes’ suppliers is responsible for the designs. Listed Parts include the survival cell, front impact structure, roll structures, air ducts and bodywork “with the exception of airboxes, engine exhausts and any prescribed bodywork geometries”. “If they extract the potential of this car it’s difficult for us to compete” - Andreas Seidl Renault’s protest therefore alleges that Racing Point has illicitly obtained information pertaining to the design of some of these parts. The timing of Renault’s protest may seem curious but it could be down to two reasons. It may have wanted to avoid clouding F1’s highly-anticipated return to action amid the coronavirus pandemic with a post-race protest, a position Red Bull took with the Mercedes DAS system. And Racing Point’s ultra-impressive performance on the second weekend at the Red Bull Ring, charging from lowly grid positions earned in a wet qualifying session to what should probably have been a fourth and sixth place finish, gave it an excuse to pull the trigger and – if successful with its protest – cost Racing Point a bigger haul of points. Both of those would tally with Abiteboul’s comments last week, when he said “it will be interesting to see the lap time, because there has been lots of speculation based on winter testing and as we all know that is very difficult to say anything from winter tests”, and reiterated that the priority was for F1 to be “back to racing”. He also added: “We will finally have an idea of the respective competitiveness and if Racing Point complies with the regulations then they have nothing to worry about obviously.” But the only way to be completely sure Racing Point complies with the regulations would be to get the stewards to rule on it. And that further supports the feeling this action was an inevitability. Renault is not alone in being frustrated by Racing Point’s model. McLaren has made direct and indirect criticisms of the approach at times, especially in the aftermath of a Styrian GP in which Racing Point driver Sergio Perez should have finished fourth on merit. “I think today we saw a bit better the potential of the Racing Point, which was quite impressive the pace they had,” said McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr. “I heard that Checo had contact, he was fighting with a Red Bull, which is incredible.” Team-mate Lando Norris, who managed to beat both Racing Points by taking advantage of Lance Stroll’s clash with Daniel Ricciardo and the damage Perez picked up clashing with Alex Albon, added: “The Racing Points are way too quick for us. “When someone extracts all of the pace of the car like Sergio, then I think he showed how fast their car is. “I’m not really expecting that we have much of a chance against them when they don’t make mistakes.” AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly said Racing Point is “almost a top team now”, which underlines why the team’s midfield rivals are so concerned with making sure this is a legitimate approach and no breach has been committed. Renault is a works team that has invested considerably in making progress only to the front of the midfield and has failed to bridge the gap to the big three teams of Mercedes, Red Bull and (before its massive slump this season) Ferrari. However, by switching its aerodynamic philosophy to that of its engine supplier, Racing Point has found a shortcut to potentially occupying a middle-ground between the well-established Class A in F1 and the intense midfield fight. Securing a ruling on how relationships between a team and a customer is in Renault’s interests because a budget cap in 2021 and new 2022 technical rules are a big opportunity to make strides compared to its current rivals. If Renault feels those rivals are unfairly gaining an advantage, it will be a major problem. Privately, Renault is likely to have support of other teams in the midfield. But publicly even its engine customer McLaren is occupying relatively neutral ground. However, even team principal Andreas Seidl cannot resist the odd glancing blow at Racing Point’s expense, while reiterating how out-of-step such a model is in the pecking order. “It doesn’t concern me because it just confirms the picture we have seen in Barcelona and also on Friday here,” Seidl said of Racing Point’s pace after the race. “It’s just a fact that this one-year-old Mercedes is simply a quick car, which is operated by a great team. “And we know that the development we did over the winter we didn’t make the step to get to the last year’s Mercedes, so if they extract the potential of this car it’s difficult for us to compete.” Now a protest has finally been made, such grumbles have given way to something much more serious. https://the-race.com/formula-1/why-racing-points-pink-mercedes-was-finally-protested/#disqus_thread https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/150537/stroll-racing-point-debatably-second-fastest-car 6 questions answered about the Mercedes 'clone' on the 2020 F1 grid
Another Autosport article on this issue https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/150536/renault-lodges-protest-against-racing-point-cars Renault has lodged a formal protest against both Racing Point Formula 1 cars following Sunday's Styrian Grand Prix. It comes amid concerns from Renault over a possible breach by Racing Point of F1's ban on customer cars and shared parts over the similarities between the Racing Point RP20 and Mercedes' 2019 title-winning W10. Renault is known to have been considering a protest against Racing Point for some time over the matter, but opted against doing so in the first Red Bull Ring race last weekend. Racing Point put in an impressive display at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday as Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll finished sixth and seventh respectively, beating Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to eighth at the line. But Renault has now launched an official protest against both Racing Point cars, confirmed by the stewards in a bulletin on Sunday evening. The stewards' report confirmed there was a "protest lodged by Renault DP World F1 Team, alleged breach of Art. 2.1, 3.2, Appendix 6 Paragraph 1, 2(a) and 2(c) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations 2020 during the Race." The early articles stress that all competitors must ensure their cars are fully eligible to enter the championship, something Renault is protesting Racing Point is in breach of. The cited articles in Appendix 6 of the sporting regulations read that: "A competitor shall, in respect of the Listed Parts to be used in its cars in Formula One, only use Listed Parts which are designed by it." Image Unavailable, Please Login "The obligation to design and use Listed Parts shall not prevent a competitor from Outsourcing the design and/or manufacture of any Listed Parts to a third party (including an Associate of such competitor) provided that: "It retains the exclusive right to use the Listed Parts in Formula One so long as it competes in Formula One. "In the case of the Outsourcing of design, such third party shall not be a competitor or a party that directly or indirectly designs Listed Parts for any competitor." Racing Point has been open in its plan to base the design of the RP20 car on last year's Mercedes, and took a number of listed parts from Mercedes as part of their technical collaboration. McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has regularly referred to Racing Point's car as "last year's Mercedes", but said in Austria last week there were "no grounds" on which to submit a protest. A short statement from Renault reads: "We confirm that Renault DP World F1 Team has submitted a request to the Stewards of the Event for clarification on the legality of the Racing Point RP20. "We have no further comment on this matter until the Stewards have arrived at a decision."
From ESPN F1 -- Own concept but admit they saw something then copied. I think they walk a tight lone on complete copying. That to me yields not your concept but just copied completely lol. This will be very legally fun i guess lol https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/29452008/renault-lodges-protest-legality-racing-point-cars Representatives of the Renault and Racing Point F1 teams were called to the stewards, who will determine whether any further action is required. Racing Point uses Mercedes' engine, gearbox and outboard suspension components, which is in compliance with the purchasing of non-listed parts allowed under the regulations. It also uses Mercedes wind tunnel to develop its car as part of an agreement between the two teams. Speaking during preseason testing, team principal Otmar Szafnauer defended the team's design direction this year. "Although everyone says we copied a Mercedes, it is our own [design]," he said. "It is our own design and it is our own development. It is our own wind tunnel model. It is our own concept. Yes, we look to see what is fast and we thought: that's fast, can we do the same. "It's no different than what we did with [copying] the Red Bull when we ran a high-rake concept. But the development is our own."
Merc used 4 different type of brake ducts in 2019 Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I don't think that any of the involved (Stroll, Mercedes, the FIA) is so stupid to get caught for this, they wouldn't have done it without having a good alibi. But it's good that somebody finally protested, I'm curious to hear that alibi.
In the pre-game show, the Sky chaps were saying that they did overlays of the drawings of both cars to the FIA and they were not (exactly) the same.
I hope they nail those cheaters. I don't buy their BS explanation of "we just googled some images of last years Merc and designed our own parts", you have to be really naive to believe that. First of all you don't build a complete copy car in 6 months that magically works to perfection, secondly there are inner parts on a F1 car that there are no photos for to copy from. Someone provided them those designs and I think we all know fully well who that SOMEONE was. My theory is that Tracing Point bought bunch of parts from last years Merc (and this is a fact that Merc sells them to the customers) and tweaked a tiny bit the design so that the copying wouldn't look so obvious. What they couldn't buy they got the blueprints for from Mr. "we should all play by the same rules" Wolff. Toto conveniently has shares on both of Mercs works teams (Williams and Aston Martin) and has a very close relationship with Stroll. I guarantee Papa Stroll asked Toto to help with RP's car and he obliged, probably with the condition "just don't get caught". F1 has become Mercs playground where they can do whatever they please, they don't even hide it anymore. FIA bans Ferrari's "engine trick", but approves of DAS that is as easily deemed illegal by the rules as it is legal. If FIA had any self-respect they would have banned DAS already this year, but no, let's just let the holier than thou' Mercs run it for a year even though FIA themselves admit it's shady and banned it from 2021 onward. There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING inventive about what RP is doing. F1 is not a spec series and it should never aspire to be one. If this pink Mercedes is deemed legal it will open the gates for just blatantly copying whole cars, an ugly road I hope we don't have to ever witness. RP is that guy at school who bought an essay from someone and spent 10 minutes to change few sentences to pass it as his own, absolutely disgusting. Too bad the incompetent fools at FIA will never get the evidence to tie Mercedes team into this directly, but I hope they at least go heavy on Racing Point. Now I'm just going to wait for certain people to come here and defend the "British innovation and engineering".
Remember when FIA banned Renault's damper on the basis that it was a moveable aerodynamic device? It was buried inside the car. MB's DAS very clearly IS a moveable aerodynamic device but has been deemed legal. What a sham.
Sour grapes from a lousy team that hasn’t been able to get their act together and is desperate to disparage racing point so they can get a few points , because they can’t do it on track . Their car stinks , Cyril also stinks and who in their right mind would bring back Alsonso .
yup, sour grapes. now, if teams were forced to share part of their designs from say 3 years back, maybe the smaller teams could manage to challenge the big teams more often. it's not like RP just "googled some images" either, I'm sure they (and all other teams) are at good terms with many of the photographers covering these events and are able to secure good photos. And they may well have been allowed to get a very close look at last years Mercedes. As long as Mercedes didn't provide them with CAD data (or drawings and so on) it's all good.
Lawrence Stroll and Toto Wolff are "buddies" now since both have a stake in Aston Martin. In 2019, Lawrence and Toto were seen together in the paddock at various tracks....that's also when the whole Aston Martin and Lawrence Stroll happened. In 2020, you rarely see the two together now.
I don't know exactly what Mercedes thought about that, in case it's proved to be illegal, but Papa Stroll probably said "**** these regulations, I don't care, it's my money".
