Unfair decision from the stewards, says Racing Point
Racing Point Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has expressed his displease regarding today’s verdict on the legality of the brake ducts of his outfit’s 2020 F1 car.
Following Renault’s protests against the legality of Racing Point’s brake ducts, the FIA stewards made a decision today, finding the Silverstone-based team guilty.
Racing Point were fined €200,000 for fielding Sergio Perez’s car in Styria and the same amount for fielding Lance Stroll’s. They were also deducted 7.5 world championship points per car - though Perez and Stroll keep their drivers' championship points. Interestingly, the team has only been given a reprimand for the Hungarian and the British Grands Prix despite using the illegal brake ducts.
Speaking to Formula1.com, Otmar Szafnauer has disclosed that his team wants a further explanation for the stewards’ decision as the Silverstone-based outfit fails to understand the verdict.
“We are still trying to digest it, we need to ask some questions and get further clarification. 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 has 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.
The team that took inspiration from Mercedes’ 2019 car has yet to decide whether it wants to appeal against the decision. “They took that into consideration when docking us points for half of the points that we achieved at the Styrian Grand Prix. And 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 are always two perspectives, I guess. The FIA were the arbiters on this. We now have to discuss with the FIA what is going to happen going forward,” the Romanian-American added.
