Racing Point F1 Car Deemed Illegal: Here’s All You Need to Know

(Racing Point and Mercedes F1 Cars
Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Breaking news in the world of Formula One. Renault's protest on the legality of the Racing Point's 2020 F1 car (RP20) has been upheld and Racing Point not only have 400 thousand Euro fine they have been ducked 15 points in the constructors' standings.

So how did this happen? How have we got to this point? It all started at the beginning of the season around February and March when Racing Point revealed their F1 car for the 2020 season. A lot of people immediately pointed out that the car looked eerily similar to the last year’s Mercedes car. Hence the name Pink Mercedes or the Tracing Point has been circulating on social media throughout the season so far.

Though a lot of teams were not convinced about the legality of the car, Racing Point admitted that their car was inspired by the 2019 Mercedes. They further added that they analysed photos and TV footage and manipulated their own design to make a car similar but not an exact copy.

Renault being Renault not too happy with that justification launched a protest in every single Grand Prix since the Styrian Grand Prix, the second race of the season. A couple of weekends ago, in particular, they protested against Racing Points brake ducts. The reason Renault did this is that it is close to impossible to design brake ducts by just looking at the photos. Which means they must have inside information regarding this brake ducts.

So FIA set up an enquiry with Renault, Mercedes and Racing Point and concluded that it was illegal what Racing Point are doing with their brakes. In the 2019 season, brakes were not among the listed parts that the teams had to design on their own. But that has changed this season and brakes have been added to the list of parts, meaning teams will have to make their brakes themselves, which is also the reason why Haas struggled at the start of the season. But Racing Point had no such problems, and their car has been fantastic throughout the season so far. As always, FIA is not going to give out all the details regarding the issue. 

The FIA fined 7.5 points and 200 thousand Euros per car so the 15 points deduction and 400 thousand Euro fine. But since the Styrian Grand Prix, we have had two races and now the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix this Sunday. That is three races they have been using these brakes. But FIA is going to do pretty much nothing about it due to the entire COVID-19 scenario and Formula One being on such a rush schedule. It is practically impossible for Racing Point to come up with new brakes. So the FIA has allowed Racing Point to use the brakes for the rest of the season, but each time they make use of those brakes, they will get a reprimand. So they got penalised for the Styrian Grand Prix, but for the races concluded after that and for upcoming ones they will only get reprimanded. Though too many reprimands can result in more penalties for the drivers and the team, it is highly unlikely that something like this will happen in the 2020 season, considering such a compact F1 schedule. 

But for a team like Mclaren and Alpha Tauri who is only 14 points behind Racing Points after that points deduction its just a matter of time that this issue will spill over the next couple of weekends.