Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer insists his team is innocent after they were cleared by the FIA prior to the start of the 2020 Formula 1 season and the decision to penalise them is therefore “unfair”.
The FIA ruled on Friday morning that Renault’s protest of the Racing Point RP20 was valid and as a result have deducted the Silverstone-based team 15 Constructors’ points and fined them €400,000.
Szafnauer is seeking further clarification on the matter and hasn’t yet decided if Racing Point will appeal the verdict, but remains insistent that they followed the rules – which the FIA themselves admit are “ambiguous” – and were given the all-clear pre-season.
“We are still trying to digest it, we need to ask some questions and get further clarification,” he said.
“It’s a bit disappointing, we thought we are well within the rules and did absolutely nothing wrong. We invited the FIA in March to come and view everything that we did. We had full disclosure. Thereafter, they wrote to us and said we were completely compliant. So that’s a bit disappointing.
“However, we now have to assess the sanction that was given. The FIA have acknowledged the rules of non-listed parts going to listed parts were far from clear and ambiguous and they could be viewed from two different sides.
“We just have to look at that now and decide whether to appeal or just move on.
“The initial thought is that from our perspective, we did nothing wrong so that’s unfair. There’s always two perspectives, I guess. The FIA were the arbiters on this.”
When asked if the team could be the subject of further protests, Szafnauer explained that the only contentious part on the car are the brake ducts because of a recent rule change.
“No, brake ducts were the only parts really that went from non-listed to listed. I think that has never happened before. It’s an anomaly and it’s unprecedented so there’s no issue with other parts of the car.”
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