Romain Grosjean, Haas, Circuit de Catalunya, 2020

Haas are ‘trying to circumvent the regulations’, Racing Point claim

2020 F1 season

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Racing Point technical director Andrew Green insists the flow of information between his team and supplier Mercedes is legal – but doubts all their rivals are obeying the rules.

[smr2020test]Formula 1 regulations allow teams to supply certain parts to their rivals. However all teams are required to hold the intellectual property rights to certain parts, and the sharing of information between teams is restricted.

Racing Point’s new car is modelled more closely on last year’s Mercedes, which has led to comparisons between their arrangement and that between Ferrari and its customer team Haas.

Asked by RaceFans whether Racing Point has become a ‘Haas mark two’, Green said: “The bit that really upset, and still upsets, us about what goes on is the transfer of information that can and does happen between the big team and the small that’s circumventing the regulation.”

The FIA ruled on the extent to which teams can share information in 2015 following a query submitted by Mercedes, ahead of Haas’s debut in F1. But Green believes it is still a problem.

Asked how the FIA can control the exchange of intellectual property between teams, Green said: “We’ve had these conversations with the FIA many times.

“It was brought to a head in Abu Dhabi a couple of years ago with people rotating from one team to another, from the big team to the small team, back to the big team again. That’s the bit that upsets us, that’s the bit that we would never contemplate doing, never will.

“It makes sense for us to be supplied with some hardware, and it’s only a limited amount of hardware. This is not whole car hardware, this is just some some parts beyond what we’ve always had from Mercedes. It’s taking that and turning it to our advantage, doing what’s best for us.

“But what we don’t like is when people try to circumvent the regulations.”

Although the rules were changed following the stewards’ ruling in 2015, Green isn’t convinced they are being complied with. “We all know what was happening. And whether it’s still happening or not, who knows, because we don’t get a straight answer.”

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16 comments on “Haas are ‘trying to circumvent the regulations’, Racing Point claim”

  1. Hasn’t Adrian Newey admitted to trying to circumvent the “regulations” (find loopholes to gain advantage before. Aren’t all teams doing this.

  2. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
    20th February 2020, 12:10

    Sounds like swift-boating to me.
    Everything is totally fine here…. look over there at that illegal Haas!!!

  3. I can’t watch the video from SkyF1, but from the F1 website, they said it change the toe, but describing camber. I think after rewatching the video multiple times, it does change the toe, not camber. So the benefit is for cornering instead of evening the heat distribution on the tires.

    1. Huh the comment I was replying to was gone. It’s about the new Mercedes steering wheel system.

  4. petebaldwin (@)
    20th February 2020, 12:23

    So in short, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”

    1. “If you can’t beat them, copy them”

  5. Green has been deflecting a bit.
    Frankly how can RP speak when they used to work with mercs strategy team. Jordan grilled Fernley because merc would text SFI when to pit… Not to mention the disgrace of monaco and Brazil 2018. Ocon should have gotten a Briatore.

    1. Brazil 2018 was purely Ocon himself (and IMO Verstappen not having the patience to just let him past and forget about him, but that’s again IMO) @peartree, it had nothing to do with Merc.; I don’t know about pitting and SFI/Merc personally, so I suppose you are correct there, certainly nothing new for Ferrari or Red Bull with Sauber and STR; I don’t like it either, but apparently it is legal and part of the sport.

      Yeah, Green is surely deflecting a bit, because it sure looks like they had some water-cooling discussions about how a car concept could work with the guys who designed the W10, but there is also indeed little doubt that Ferrari shared out staff, who then returned to them with what they learned, and Renault taking the FIA technical guy was also quite blatant gamesmanship; But why so bitter about it?

      1. @bosyber I’m not unaware of what is reportedly going on elsewhere.
        @hunocsi Ham went for an impossible undercut, nobody had pitted yet because they hadn’t cleared Ocon, Ham pitted, Ocon immediately yielded.
        @jmwalley Deflecting all this talk about the car looking so similar to the w10, above all the execution not the copy, anyone can figure out the exact dimensions of that front wing, but not many can crash test that, and then there’s the other things. Steiner pretty much said that RP is just like Haas and others, why is Rp making so much noise if they are in the same boat. I saw the car wrote “Ferrari beater” I like Rp, just be a bit less hypocritical.

    2. @peartree What happened in Monaco? Can’t think of what you’re referring to.

    3. @Peartree, If I understand what Green is saying, and if what he is saying is correct, then I think they have reason to be upset or bitter. And Iwouldnt consider it deflecting as much as trying to clarify the principles around which the team operates and designs their car.

      As I understand it, he is saying that Haas hired on Ferrari staff, who in a relatively short time were re-hired by Ferrari. He is suggesting that with that personnel shuffle knowledge of designs and design philosophy was transferred in a way that skirts the regulations about intellectual property. He is also saying that everything Racing Point has learned from Mercedes is either from outside observation (which any team could do) or is critical info necessary for effective integration of the parts they are buying from Mercedes. Any supplier/partner would want and have a right to support their customers to guarantee successful integration of whatever parts they are buying—that is just good customer service. Green also said that Racing Point and Mercedes would never trade personnel as they see it contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the rules.

      If this is all correct, then I would also be upset if I were him. People shouldn’t call the Racing Point a copy when Haas and Ferrari are going to greater lengths to copy and share learnings.

      However, If I were Haas and Ferrari I would be explorong the grey areas around personnel if I believed there was a way to be legitimate and above board about it.

      Now, speaking as a fan I am curious to know more specifics about what he is saying about Haas and Ferrari. How frequently did personnel move between teams and how brief was their stay at each team? In my industry, branding and graphic design, I have seen people change employers, realize it was a mistake and be welcomed back to their original employer with no hard feelings. Nothing suspicious about that, unless it is happening repeatedly between two companies.

  6. Pot. Kettle. Black.

  7. “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!”
    (The croupier hands him his money.) “… Your winnings, sir.”
    “Oh, thank you very much.”

  8. We can see the results of the extra finances brought to Racing Point.

    They have got a really, really good photocopier…

    1. They have got a really, really good photocopier…

      And a rather expensive one, I would guess…
      How much did daddy Stroll pay Mercedes for these 2019 blueprints, that’s the question.

      1. They didn’t have to pay, a driver looking for a job brought them over with him. Oh wait.. that was a few years ago LOL.

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