Renault is facing a protest from rival team Racing Point over the legality of the braking system it used in the Japanese Grand Prix.
The stewards have announced they are investigating the legality of Renault’s car. Racing Point’s objection concerned whether the RS19 is equipped with a “pre-set lap distance-dependent brake bias adjustment system”.Article 11.1.4 of the technical regulations states “any change to, or modulation of, the brake system, other than any movement of the minimal flexible parts described in Article 11.4 to 11.6 [front and rear air ducts], whilst the car is on the track must be made by the driver’s direct physical input or by the system referred to in Article 11.9 [the rear brake control system], and may not be pre-set.”
Both Renault drivers scored points in the Japanese Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth (promoted one place following Charles Leclerc’s penalties) and Nico Hulkenberg was 10th.
This article will be updated.
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DAllein (@)
13th October 2019, 10:43
What the…?
What is “pre-set lap distance-dependent brake bias adjustment system”???
DAllein (@)
13th October 2019, 10:43
And how is it different to current bias changing system?
ColdFly (@)
13th October 2019, 11:55
Pre-set rather than driver’s physical input.
Seems a clear cut disqualification to me.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
14th October 2019, 2:56
@coldfly No need for any evidence? Right. Sure.
Steve Rogers (@yossarian)
13th October 2019, 10:46
I believe it means the brake bias adjust automatically depending on where on the lap the car is, which would make it illegal under driver-aid laws. Whereas the driver inputting a change in brake bias themselves is legal.
DAllein (@)
13th October 2019, 10:55
Ow, I see. Sounds illegal indred.
Thanks!
bosyber (@bosyber)
13th October 2019, 10:43
Why would that be illegal, bc. it should be up to the driver to manage? If it’s just linear I wouldn’t consider it a big thing, though if it is more complex, yes I can see the issue.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th October 2019, 18:21
It seems that the system does things “automatically” in certain corners @bosyber.
pastaman (@)
13th October 2019, 20:20
They allege that they are “brake mapping” based on where the car is in the lap, similar to how teams map the engines for harvesting etc.
Kieran (@grasbysaurus)
13th October 2019, 11:06
That is an oddly specific thing for Racing Point to protest. Have they been obsessing over the onboard shots from the Renault cars and think they’ve spotted something, or do they just somehow know about this system through other means?
Ronald (@mosquito)
13th October 2019, 11:53
What makes me curious: how can Force India know that Renault has such a system??
ColdFly (@)
13th October 2019, 11:57
‘Racing Point’, but that wasn’t the point you were making :P
Sonics (@sonicslv)
13th October 2019, 12:14
@mosquito Probably from watching onboard camera where adjusting brake bias is something that very easy to see (usually a knob in steering wheel). The lack of those action will definitely raise suspicions since it’s impossible to extract the maximum of the car with a single brake bias setting.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th October 2019, 15:30
@sonicslv Yes, and specially on the Mercedes-onboards as the Merc-drivers do that notoriously often while on track, more than any other team’s drivers.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th October 2019, 12:02
The adjustment of brake balance while on track is manual. The Mercedes-drivers do that a lot on their pole laps. More than other drivers for some reason.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th October 2019, 18:23
It seems that it is more important for the mercedes to maintain a stable platform this way @jerejj. I even think Rosberg was asked about it a month or so back and confirmed that had been the case for some time.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
13th October 2019, 12:13
But changing engine mapping based on presets is fine? That’s an interesting distinction. I remember Alonso having a problem at Spa since his Honda’s ECU was confused when he didn’t lift through a corner, since it used (IIRC) throttle input to determine which part of the circuit they were on.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
14th October 2019, 6:12
@phylyp gray area. Alonso’s car didn’t change mapping but the mapping was, like you pointed out, linked to his throttle input, it needed that info to work itself out.
Racing point had this joker on renault and they used it now, 6th and 10th on the line.
All the people saying racing point was watching onboards forget there are buttons behind the steering wheel.
Want more conspiracy? McLaren stands to gain. McLaren rats out their pu partner, renault, to racing point.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
14th October 2019, 9:15
@peartree – cheers, thanks for clearing that up.
Interesting conspiracy theory, but wouldn’t the front-rear brake bias be on the hydraulic side of the Renault, which McLaren won’t have sight of? I can understand inside info if it were to do with the BBW side of the braking system.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th October 2019, 6:22
@phylyp you’re probably right. Just a conspiracy theory but it would still make sense for mclaren not to irk their current Pu provider.
nickthegreek (@nickthegreek)
14th October 2019, 11:30
I like this!
DAllein (@)
13th October 2019, 12:15
So, FIA accepts the protest, and takes away ECUs and steering wheels from Renault.
I wonder how Racing Point learnt about this system, it is clearly not something visible by naked eye (unless they were ripped ans knew what to look for).
DAllein (@)
13th October 2019, 12:21
* ripped = tipped (how I wish this site to have proper comment system…)
Suddenly the future of Renault looks somewhat bleaker (having lost CEO just days ago, and what if this system was used for a long ng time…)
Ronny
13th October 2019, 13:36
Lawrence Stroll has a lot of money and influence ;)
Bulgarian (@bulgarian)
13th October 2019, 12:24
This race must be remembered for ages, so it is very fitting that even protests are coming too. I am buying more popcorn to follow this. :)
F1oSaurus (@)
13th October 2019, 19:42
How would they even know Renault has this? Another spy gate?
jet
14th October 2019, 2:01
Wow, another decent race and more drama. Whoohoo!