Yahoo Autos FIA Slaps Racing Point F1 team with Points Penalty, Fine for Design of its 2020 Cars
In a ruling announced on Friday at Silverstone Circuit, the FIA slapped Racing Point with a 15-point penalty and a fine of just over $500,000 for breaking the sport's Sporting Regulations in regards to the design of its 2020 cars.
The Renault F1 team, which has protested Racing Point's entries after each of the last three Formula 1 races, alleged that the Racing Point 2020 car was designed and built as a copy of the 2019 Mercedes F1 entry. The cars' brake ducts were singled out as a point of emphasis in the protest.
No further penalty is expected in the matter this season. The points penalty is expected to be considered the penalty for the entire season. Declaring the cars illegal and ineligible for competition at this late date could have resulted in Racing Point unable to field an entry for the remainder of 2020.
Racing Point argued that the design process was, in fact in-house and a multi-stage process which begins with a shape that is then refined at the different stages. Renault argued that the shape is key. The FIA Technical Department agreed with Renault and the stewards chose to follow the thought process of the technical department.
The question was not a dispute over the technical rules, but rather a discussion over a Sporting Regulation. The Racing Point cars did not break the technical rules, but they infringed on the Sporting Regulations. The stewards believed that the infringement was in the design process and was not intentional, as Racing Point believed the parts to be legal and cooperated with the FIA throughout the process.
However, it was felt that there should be a punishment to reflect the infraction and so it was agreed that there would be a 15-point deduction over the whole season. The team will be able to keep the parts in question and continue to compete.
Both teams are able to appeal the decision.
