[ 2020 ] Racing Point F1 Team - Mercedes

[RZS10]

The brake ducts are not illegal, the car isn't illegal, there's no breach of technical regulations so no ground for a DSQ.

It's a breach of sporting regs, namely the supposedly improper development of a part (skipping one step in the multi step design process).

stealing a intellectual property?

"The FIA agrees with Racing Point’s contention (at section 2 of its submission) that the test for determining whether a team has ‘designed’ a LP should not be based on ‘a detailed assessment of the application of complex intellectual property rights laws which apply in potentially multiple jurisdictions,’ as this would be unworkable."

[SiLo]

I would also like to point out that nothing was "stolen".

[bauc]

The brake ducts are not illegal, the car isn't illegal, there's no breach of technical regulations so no ground for a DSQ.

It's a breach of sporting regs, namely the supposedly improper development of a part (skipping one step in the multi step design process).

stealing a intellectual property?

"The FIA agrees with Racing Point’s contention (at section 2 of its submission) that the test for determining whether a team has ‘designed’ a LP should not be based on ‘a detailed assessment of the application of complex intellectual property rights laws which apply in potentially multiple jurisdictions,’ as this would be unworkable."

We all know they will bury this in legal gibberish, the fact is they copied the hole car, from front to back and that will not change.

[RZS10]

The ruling explicitly states that there's nothing wrong with copying the entire car

"with the RP20 Racing Point has done its best to copy the Mercedes W10 as closely as it can across the board. [...] Racing Point has achieved this by simply photographing components of the Mercedes W10 and reverse engineering them, this is consistent with standard practice (albeit taken to extreme) and no other team could reasonably object."

[PowerandtheGlory]

I think the conclusion is very clear, because the team didn't race the 2019 part.. they simply used it as a basis for the 2020 car, they had no data from using it themselves, and they saved resource not designing it, which gave them a competitive advantage to build (copy) the rest of the car.

The issue is that this practice might be distasteful but completely legal. There isn’t anything preventing this in the rulebook. Hence, the slap-on-the-wrist type penalty.

Its not legal - its legal to use the technology as its now in their possession and you cant undo that, but its illegal to buy a 2019 part and then port it onto a 2020 car without doing it yourself and benefiting from that.. so its quite clear as a team they used a loophole or cut a corner, and got caught.. end of..

Its a team penalty, the same sort of thing as an unsafe release or a breach of parc ferme, or anything else, they cut a corner and that practice has been found out and dealt with. they still dont understand the concept they've copied and they cant manage the tyres as well as the MERC team in a race. They can copy, but they dont understand it bless them..

[jjn9128]

The ruling explicitly states that there's nothing wrong with copying the entire car

"with the RP20 Racing Point has done its best to copy the Mercedes W10 as closely as it can across the board. [...] Racing Point has achieved this by simply photographing components of the Mercedes W10 and reverse engineering them, this is consistent with standard practice (albeit taken to extreme) and no other team could reasonably object."

Nothing wrong with copying using photographs and other freely obtainable sources. Against sporting regs this season to design from CAD legally obtained last season. FIA should have thought of this possibility when changing brake ducts from non-listed to listed parts.

[SiLo]

Really what they could have done is set an earlier date before the rule came into effect, something like, brake ducts DESIGNED before X date will be legal maybe?

[PowerandtheGlory]

The ruling explicitly states that there's nothing wrong with copying the entire car

"with the RP20 Racing Point has done its best to copy the Mercedes W10 as closely as it can across the board. [...] Racing Point has achieved this by simply photographing components of the Mercedes W10 and reverse engineering them, this is consistent with standard practice (albeit taken to extreme) and no other team could reasonably object."

Nothing wrong with copying using photographs and other freely obtainable sources. Against sporting regs this season to design from CAD legally obtained last season. FIA should have thought of this possibility when changing brake ducts from non-listed to listed parts.

The rules were quite clear, the BD were a protected part this year and must be designed themselves. Anybody doing 'anything else' was treading a fine line..

And the TP quite clearly said we've copied them.. own goal.

A cleverer TP would have told his design team- look we have this part, but we still need to show we worked on our own part, so get me a 6 week design process with 3 different models based on this to 'at least' show we did some due process on the part itself. Its clear they did as quoted "minimal work" so the majority of the design is MERC, so the team failed to manage the situation correctly. They could have tried harder to justify their process..

[RZS10]

This oversight was another mitigating factor, next to the FIA not paying attention when checking out the car in their March 2020 factory tour.

"They [stewards] also note that there are a number of mitigating factors which we have considered:
- The change in classification of the BDs from Non‐LPs in 2019 to LPs in 2020;
- The absence of specific guidance or clarification from the FIA in respect to how that transition to LPs might be managed within the spirit and intent of the regulations"

[jjn9128]

The rules were quite clear, the BD were a protected part this year and must be designed themselves. Anybody doing 'anything else' was treading a fine line..

And the TP quite clearly said we've copied them.. own goal.

A cleverer TP would have told his design team- look we have this part, but we still need to show we worked on our own part, so get me a 6 week design process with 3 different models based on this to 'at least' show we did some due process on the part itself. Its clear they did as quoted "minimal work" so the majority of the design is MERC, so the team failed to manage the situation correctly. They could have tried harder to justify their process..

The FIA said the front brake ducts were fine because they used them last year though, they can't reasonably be expected to change parts they already have. The bit that's got them in trouble was the rear brake ducts, which were changed this year for the lower rake concept, however, those were designed last year before the rule change to make them listed parts. You see where it's complicated. It's all lawyer talk and interpretation of vague wording.

[PowerandtheGlory]

The rules were quite clear, the BD were a protected part this year and must be designed themselves. Anybody doing 'anything else' was treading a fine line..

And the TP quite clearly said we've copied them.. own goal.

A cleverer TP would have told his design team- look we have this part, but we still need to show we worked on our own part, so get me a 6 week design process with 3 different models based on this to 'at least' show we did some due process on the part itself. Its clear they did as quoted "minimal work" so the majority of the design is MERC, so the team failed to manage the situation correctly. They could have tried harder to justify their process..

The FIA said the front brake ducts were fine because they used them last year though, they can't reasonably be expected to change parts they already have. The bit that's got them in trouble was the rear brake ducts, which were changed this year for the lower rake concept, however, those were designed last year before the rule change to make them listed parts. You see where it's complicated. It's all lawyer talk and interpretation of vague wording.

Perhaps to simplify it, the Racing Point TP voted to include BD as a listed part, then he ran his own team taking a 2019 design and put in on 2020 car.... so i think he should be pretty well clued up on what he was doing since he voted for it.. Donut!

[214270]

I think the conclusion is very clear, because the team didn't race the 2019 part.. they simply used it as a basis for the 2020 car, they had no data from using it themselves, and they saved resource not designing it, which gave them a competitive advantage to build (copy) the rest of the car.

The issue is that this practice might be distasteful but completely legal. There isn’t anything preventing this in the rulebook. Hence, the slap-on-the-wrist type penalty.

Its not legal - its legal to use the technology as its now in their possession and you cant undo that, but its illegal to buy a 2019 part and then port it onto a 2020 car without doing it yourself and benefiting from that.. so its quite clear as a team they used a loophole or cut a corner, and got caught.. end of..

Nope. Running said part before putting it on your 2020 car doesn’t legitimise/confirm the word ‘design’ in this context; that’s a totally arbitrary condition. Should they choose to take anything forward further, the RP lawyers will be smiling all the way to tribunal.

[Sieper]

And next year, Racing point must now built the car they should have been building this year? Or will they again “loophole” their way out of it, get 400.000 euro fine and a few worthless points punishment?

This ruling reads a bit as you can not mess with us but go ahead. If you like.

[NOBS]

RP must be happy with this decision unless a new round of protest from Renault. They got away with cheap fine & some point loss which can be easily recouped in the next couple of races.
On top of that, FIA closed the door for other teams to follow the same path; a blessing in disguise for RP for 20 & 21.

[Raleigh]

And next year, Racing point must now built the car they should have been building this year? Or will they again “loophole” their way out of it, get 400.000 euro fine and a few worthless points punishment?

This ruling reads a bit as you can not mess with us but go ahead. If you like.

No need, the car is legal, Racing Point do not need to redesign anything. In fact, Racing Point is clear to continue copying the aero from Mercedes as the process has been ruled legal.