Should Racing Point’s brake ducts be declared illegal by the F1 stewards, Otmar Szafnauer says the team will appeal the ruling.
Racing Point’s brake ducts are the subject of not one but two protests after Renault protested in the wake of the Styrian and Hungarian races.
According to Renault, Racing Point received drawings from Mercedes regarding the design of this year’s RP20, a car that has been dubbed the ‘pink Mercedes’.
But while teams are permitted to purchase various parts from other teams and use rivals designs, as of this season brake ducts have been a team’s own intellectual property.
Racing Points insists the ducts are their’s. Renault believe otherwise.
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It is now up to the F1 stewards, guided by the FIA’s technical department, to hold a hearing and make a ruling.
Should that not go in Racing Point’s favour, team boss Szafnauer says he will appeal.
“I don’t think it will go against us, but if it does, we will appeal,” he said.
“Our brake ducts are legal. We didn’t contravene any sporting or technical regulations on the brake ducts, or any other part of the car for that matter.”
Szafnauer reiterated that the FIA is well aware of the RP20’s design and how it came into being with the team having already consulted motorsport’s governing body.
Hungary qualifying: 2019 v 2020 ?@lance_stroll went a whopping 3.165s faster than his quickest lap from last year – and claimed P3 on Sunday's grid ?#HungarianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/bkFWrZryrl
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 18, 2020
But while the FIA may stand with Racing Point on this, Szafnauer admits it is “frustrating” that the team now has to go through the whole process all over again with the stewards.
“The only reason you may sense a bit of frustration is probably because I have all the information of how we designed and developed our brake duct and the rest of the world doesn’t, because we haven’t disclosed it to the stewards,” he said.
“We have disclosed it to the FIA, and the FIA was satisfied that what we’d done was legal; however, that’s not how the judicial system works. It’s the stewards who have the right and the power to rule, so now we have got to inform the stewards as well and it just takes a little bit of time.
“When the FIA came to us to investigate how we designed and developed our brake ducts, they came to the factory, interviewed people, looked at all of our drawings, the design and development process, what we did in the tunnel and with CFD, and how we got to where we got and they were satisfied.
“With the stewards you can’t do that, you have to bring the data to them and then also explain through words and piece of paper what you have done and it takes a little bit longer.
“The only reason I am frustrated is that I know what we have done and why it’s legal. And it wasn’t a loophole or anything, it’s just frustrating that I know what we’ve done is legal and I get all these questions about, what happens if you lose? That’s the frustrating part.”
After three races Racing Point is fourth in the championship with 40 points, one behind McLaren and 13 ahead of Ferrari.
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