Haas’ Steiner defends Racing Point over ‘Mercedes copy’ claims

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner has defended Racing Point over claims the team has copied the title winning Mercedes W10 from 2019.

Rival Formula 1 teams raised an eyebrow when the Racing Point RP20 hit the track on Wednesday morning bearing a striking resemblance to last year’s Mercedes.

Racing Point is a Mercedes customer, taking its engine, transmission and suspension components and technical chief Andrew Green said it was therefore a natural path to follow the same design philosophy.

Haas, which came in for the same criticism over its close relationship with Ferrari, has defended its rival.

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“What is wrong with that?” Steiner said about the situation.

“The regulations are quite clear, you don’t exchange CAD data. I would put it like this, they use a lot of Mercedes parts on their car, so why would they go and copy Red Bull?

“It is the same with us. We buy a lot of parts from Ferrari, so which car we going to copy? I guess a Ferrari.

“If we were to copy a Toro Rosso or a Red Bull, we would be pretty stupid because we are trying to invent something that isn’t there. I think they are just doing what we are doing, just trying to get the best out of it, and use that model.”

Steiner did however accuse Racing Point of criticising the ‘Haas’ model in the past, only to take that same path.

“Sometimes you have to think before you talk. We all know they complained quite heavily a few years ago [about us]. And now it is going full-circle.”