Liberty Media top man on issue Racing Point: "It's a tricky problem"

Racing Point's 2020 car is currently being examined by the FIA technical committee. Indeed, the Renault team has protested against the 'brake ducts' of the RP20. Ross Brawn says that the international motorsport federation has a difficult problem and further states that the British racing team has taken Formula 1 copying to a new level.

Renault believes that Racing Point has received drawings and other data from Mercedes to recreate the 'brake ducts'. The team of Lawrence Stroll claims that everything has been recreated based on photos.

Shopping list for photographers

"My view is copying in Formula 1 is standard", Brawn writes in his column on the official website of Formula 1. "Every team has, in normal times, digital photographers in the pit lane out there taking thousands of photos of every car for analysis, with a view of copying the best ideas. We used to give our photographers a shopping list", he says.

The top man at Liberty Media continues his story: "Racing Point have just taken it to the next stage and done a more thorough job. There is not a single team in this paddock which has not copied something from another. I’d ask every Technical Director in the paddock to raise their hand if they haven’t copied someone else. You won’t see any hands. I have certainly copied others."

Tricky problem for the FIA

In 2019 Racing Point bought the 'brake ducts' from Mercedes, but from this season onwards all teams in the king's class of motorsport will have to design the part themselves. That makes the situation a bit tricky, because: "Racing Point cannot forget the knowledge they acquired using the 2019 Mercedes brake ducts. I think it is illogical to think they can wipe their memory banks. It is a tricky problem and one for the FIA experts to resolve", concludes Brawn.