Renault: Racing Point protest is about F1’s future

Renault has stressed that its protest against the legality of Racing Point’s RP20 concerns the future of Formula 1, as opposed to merely questioning a component of its rival’s car.

An FIA investigation is currently ongoing concerning the front and rear brake ducts of the RP20 to assess their similarity to the components on last year’s title-winning Mercedes W10.

The outcome of the investigation is not expected until next month.

Racing Point has never shied away from the fact it drew inspiration from Mercedes’ W10 but has repeatedly stressed that it owns the intellectual property to all of its RP20.

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The relationship between big teams and smaller outfits has come in for scrutiny in recent years, with AlphaTauri (Red Bull) and Haas (Ferrari) having its approach questioned.

“I think for us it’s important to clarify,” said Renault’s Executive Director Marcin Budkowski. “To clarify what is permissible and what isn’t for this season.

“For the event we protested but for the rest of the season, for next season – but also what Formula 1 we want in the future.

“What is the model we want? Do we want the model where we have 10 teams independently fighting each other, especially in the context of a fairer sport, a more equal distribution of funds, a cost-cap, so all teams eventually coming to a similar level of spending. Maybe not straight away but with time.

“So I think there’s a great opportunity, together with the technical regulations, cars being able to follow each other, overtake each other, better racing. We think there’s a great opportunity for the sport to have 10 teams, maybe more, fighting really on equal terms.

“And for us it’s important to clarify what kind of level of exchanges is permissible. Is it permissible to get parts or get geometries from another team and use them on your car or not – because we don’t think that’s the right model for F1 in the future.

“It’s really beyond the protest, beyond this race. It’s what kind of model we want for the future of F1.”

Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer stressed that “the internal surfaces of a brake duct for example that we completely designed and developed ourselves.

“When you compare the two parts by the FIA then they’ll absolutely know that the brake ducts are unique and our IP and designed by us.”