Renault Protests Racing Point for 3rd Time

Lawrence Stroll’s Racing Point has faced considerable backlash throughout the 2020 Formula One Season. This comes after the Canadian Billionaire spent an unknown amount to purchase the rights for Mercedes AMG-Petronas’s W10, the vehicle that acquired Lewis Hamilton victory in the 2019 Season. All teams except for Mercedes were shocked & disgusted to see Lawrence Stroll has merely painted over the W10, prompting these outfits to lodge formal protests against Racing Point.

The FIA has regularly rejected these protests. However, this hasn’t stopped Renault from continuously lodged new objections that require a binding ruling. Three back-to-back Grand Prix’s have resulted in Renault locating illegal aspects of the RP20 (Racing Point’s Mercedes W10). It’s suspected that this protest will be denied again by FIA, avoiding any possible fallout of this team leaving the sport during COVID-19.

Team Directors with Racing Point have regularly expressed that the RP20 is designed on concept blueprints from Mercedes W10, with the two vehicles not being identical. Most believe their reasoning for the similarities between the RP20 & W10 to be truthful. Lance Stroll & Sergio Perez in certain instances have been unable to reach the top grid placements, showing that Racing Point engineers haven’t mastered what Mercedes accomplished in 2019. This became evident with Lance Stroll during the 2020 Silverstone Grand Prix, with Lawrence’s son acquiring 9th Position.

Renault’s formal protest against Racing Point regarding the RP20 Brake Ducts, which is believed illegal & have been in usage since the Styrian Grand Prix. It’s prompted the FIA to conduct an investigation that would receive it’s ruling late into the August 2nd evening. It’s known that Racing Point and Renault met to discuss these allegations at 5:30. The FIA confirmed that this meeting is a formality, not receiving any conclusion as the investigation remains ongoing.

Racing Point’s Worst Weekend Yet in 2020

Overall, it wasn’t the best weekend for Racing Point & learning of a 3rd formal protest would’ve been another deterrent at Silverstone. The 1st deterrent came when Sergio Perez couldn’t compete at the 2020 British Grand Prix after testing positive for COVID-19. After being replaced by Nico Hulkenberg for two-races, the initial Grand Prix for Nico would be cancelled after his RP20 failed to start.