F1 2020 SEASON: NEWS - RUMOURS

Is that where Martin Donnelly had his horrific crash ?

 

that was Jerez. I#ll never forget his twisted body, still in it's chair, unmoving in the middle of the circuit, horrendous. I doubt anyone watching thought he was still alive.

 

No, but Estoril always brings back memories of Patrese almost doing a full on backflip after clipping Berger in 92 for me.

Wouldn't mind an F1 return there.

 

Oh yes , I remember that Now . Lucky man , Not as Lucky as Donnelly though !

 

Oh, hell no. That's was a brutal accident.

 

Go to approx 7 min 10 sec , if true Lance's seat is not 100% safe !

 

Very interesting indeed!

Seb Vettel here they come.

If Lawrence Stroll is prepared to make that decision then Racing Point are very serious indeed.

I think I’m right in saying that Toto Wolff has got some shares in them now? He’s always been a bit shrewd with his investing so I don’t think Racing Point are going away any time soon- I just hope they can find their own Design direction!

 

Toto has shares in Aston Martin the car company I think , but not sure if that will have an impact on the actual team .

Not sure if you knew or not , but Racing Point will be re-branded Aston Martin next year . Apologies if you already knew .

 

Yeah Jasp i was aware- I just mean the team isn’t going to disappear from the sharper end of the grid any time soon- they have a lot going for them.

Bit disappointed we couldn’t have Aston Martin a little more involved with the power side of things but ultimately it’s a complex thing to come into at the moment.

Would love to see some more engine manufacturers in the sport, BMW & Audi being the most obvious.

 

Have seen a few reports that we should not expect any new Engine Manufacturers to come in soon as it all changes again in 2025 .

I agree totally though that it would be good to see some get involved .

 

I would like to see Toyota return.....


On another note, Renault have just lodged a protest on the racing point cars legality

 

I don’t think they have any hope of getting that go in their favour . We will see though .

 

FIA have “impounded the car parts in question” so it seems there’s a specific element that Renault are unhappy with.

I am a little suspicious of it given Toto owns shares in Aston Martin now and a close relationship with Lawrence Stroll, but given that RP are able to buy a lot of standardised Mercedes parts they may not be doing anything wrong and have just reverse engineered (albeit impressive in itself!) the other parts.

 

That's the modern world, if you can't beat them see if you can get a ruling against them.. Red Bull have the same tactic. Ferrari have another tactic...take you main rival out...No No, not your team mate, you plonker

Shame Albon didn't make the podium.

 

Did Force India not do the same thing to Renault last year, producing some multi-page "dossier" on the legality of an element of the Renault?

 

That was their auto brake bias wasnt it?

 

Been doing some reading across some other platforms and there’s an increasing confidence in Renaults protest.

Carlos Sainz in March:
Carlos Sainz questioned his engineers about copying the W11
“I asked my engineers ‘Why don’t we copy Mercedes too?’ and they told me it’s impossible. I believe them and I’m not going to say anymore,” he said.


Marcin Budkowski in March:

Asked by Autosport if his team was comfortable with Racing Point's approach, Renault's executive director Marcin Budkowski said: "I think it's a slightly concerning evolution for the sport.

"It's a trend that started a few seasons ago and it is a new chapter in that trend.

"It will be for the FIA to decide whether it's fully compliant or not. So at this stage, I don't think I have any more to say."

Marcin Budkowski today:





To be honest, we were planning to do it in Melbourne, and didn't really have the opportunity to do it in Melbourne," Renault executive director Marcin Budkowski told Motorsport.com.

"And the reasons why we didn't do it last week were more related to the fact took a lot of a lot of good work from the FIA and F1 to reconvene everybody at a race. And I think we wanted to respect this, and we applaud the work that they've done.

"And I think we know a lot of teams have contributed to it. And we just thought it wasn't it wasn't the right thing to do.

"But we did it at the second race because again, there was the opportunity to do it. That's really the reason for waiting, but it's something we spotted in Barcelona in the testing."

In effect, for the second race Renault decided that the gloves were off. It just happened that on this occasion one of its drivers – Daniel Ricciardo – finished behind both pink cars.


Budkowski won't comment, but other teams in the pitlane have made their displeasure all too clear, and sources suggest that privately they have backed the Renault protest and shared their suspicions, even if they have not attached their names to the FIA document in public. After all, only one team has to actually take action to set things in motion.

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Daniel Ricciardo, Renault F1 Team R.S.20, leads Lance Stroll, Racing Point RP20

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images


So what is the protest about, and why does it focus on brake ducts?

The case relates to the often controversial issue of listed parts, and what teams can and cannot buy or borrow from their rivals.

Chassis and aerodynamic surfaces have always been regarded as the key elements for which teams are expected to create their own intellectual property, whereas items like gearboxes and suspension are free to be traded. All the details are enshrined in Appendix 6 of the FIA Sporting Regulations.

Brake ducts, which clearly have a key aerodynamic influence, became a listed part for the 2020 season.


"Basically we contend that the brake ducts front and rear that are used on the Racing Point are effectively a Mercedes design, and so have been designed by another competitor," says Budkowski.

"Which is in breach of the sporting regulations, more precisely Appendix 6, and therefore we protested the cars because of that.

"First of all brake ducts are a listed part, because they are a performance differentiator as they're an aerodynamically sensitive component. And they are also pretty crucial in controlling tyre temperatures, which we know is a fairly major performance differentiator in F1.

"And they are regulated by Appendix 6, so we believe that these geometries in use in the Racing Point are effectively the exact design of Mercedes from last year, potentially with some minor modifications to adapt them to the Racing Point, or some minor evolutions, but nevertheless it's not a Racing Point design.

"So it's not their intellectual property. And that's explicitly banned in the regulations."


The protest was accepted by the FIA stewards at the Red Bull Ring, and will be heard at some future date, once the evidence has been gathered.

Budkowski stresses that it's not the job of Renault to demonstrated that its rival has broken the rules.

"It's not us that have to prove it, it's Racing Point. In the F1 regulations, it's the duty of the competitor to prove that your car is legal at all times. So it will be it will be Racing Point's duty to prove the legality of their car."

 

Interesting. I do wonder if Renault would have protested the brake ducts at the first race if they stood to gain points?
It will be interesting as when the ducts were in use on the Merc in 2019 they were not a listed part. So it could be that Racing Point made an error and used then on the 2020 car. Surely if they were allowed the 2019 components not on the listed parts list then they could have 'bought' them along with all the other components they could and then copied them?
I would be surprised if Racing Point had somehow missed that the brake ducts were now (2020) a listed component. Knowing what they set out to do I would be very surprised if there are any components on the RP that are identical.
I wonder what the actual working of the rules are relating to the listed components and their design. How many teams copied Brawns double diffuser using photos?

So if it's OK to copy a design where is the line? Is the high rake design a Red Bull exclusive as they may have used it first? Are Red Bull allowed to 'copy' the DAS idea....... Not having a go at red bull just using examples..

All interesting...

 

Found this interesting .

ESP considering Top Class quote - "So it's not their intellectual property. And that's explicitly banned in the regulations."

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