Spielberg bei Knittelfeld (Austria) (AFP)
The Renault team has filed a complaint against its competitor Racing Point, whose 2020 single-seater is largely inspired by the Mercedes crowned champion in 2019, at the end of the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Styria on Sunday.
This complaint relates to several articles of the sporting regulations of the World Championship, which stipulate that a competitor "must use in his single-seaters parts which he has designed", that he "retains intellectual property as long as he is racing in F1 "and that subcontracting to design certain parts cannot be entrusted" to a competitor or a subcontractor to a competitor ".
The two parties were scheduled to be heard by the race commissioners at 7.20 p.m. (5.30 p.m. GMT).
This year, Racing Point did not just buy the propulsion unit and the gearbox developed by Mercedes. The team based in Silverstone, England, copied - in photos, she says - the aerodynamic options chosen last season by its engine manufacturer, which the regulations do not prohibit.
"What we did is completely legal," said technical director Andrew Green during pre-season testing in February, which Mercedes also assured.
"This is something we have wanted to do for a long time without having the budget for it," he said, and which came to fruition when Racing Point started using the German team's wind tunnel in May 2019.
Developing a "pink Mercedes" (the color of its livery), as it was nicknamed, allowed Racing Point to rise to the level of Renault and McLaren, or even a little above, in the middle of the table.
In the inaugural round of the 2020 season in Austria last week, his Mexican driver Sergio Pérez placed 6th. This Sunday, he signed the same result in front of his Canadian teammate Lance Stroll.
At the Japanese GP last year, Racing Point obtained, thanks to a claim, the downgrading of the two Renault.
© 2020 AFP