Racing Point used drawings of the brakes of Mercedes
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Racing Point has been found illegal by the FIA after the protest of Renault. The team that seemed to have copied the Mercedes of 2019 very well, is deduced 15 points and has to pay a fine of 400,000 euros.
Setback for Racing Point
It's a hard blow for Racing Point, which not only sees a good place in the constructors' championship go up in smoke but will also have to work hard to build a legal car. It is not yet clear when Racing Point will need to get legal parts.
Racing Point would have used drawings of the Mercedes brakes to improve their own design. The fact that Racing Point came up with these drawings is special because officially this is not allowed to be shared by Mercedes.
Is Racing Point allowed to continue racing?
What is clear is that Racing Point has to draw a lot of money. The team has to pay 400,000 euros for the cars found to be illegal and in addition to that the team is deducted 15 points (7.5 per car for the Steiermark Grand Prix). It ensures that Racing Point falls back to sixth place in the constructors' championship, below Renault.
Racing Point had collected 42 points with the illegal car so far and is now down to 27 points. The question now is in what timeframe a legal car can be built and whether Racing Point will immediately lose much more time to the competition. It is also noteworthy that Racing Point only receives a reprimand for the illegally found cars in Hungary and Great Britain.