Racing Point insists FIA did inspect its brake ducts before the season began

Racing Point has insisted the FIA did inspect its disputed brake ducts when the governing body visited its premises before the season began.

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Renault has submitted two protests against Racing Point over its brake ducts at the past two races and may submit a third following tomorrow’s British Grand Prix.

The FIA’s head of single-seater matters Nikolas Tombazis said in Hungary they “primarily focused on the rest of the car, not the brake ducts” when they inspected the RP20.

However speaking to media at Silverstone today Racing Point’s technical director Andrew Green said: “That’s not true.”

Renault’s protest hinges on alleged similarities between Racing Point’s brake ducts and those Mercedes used in 2019.

“The FIA received all the data from our brake ducts in the visit and they did a comparison [of] the Racing Point brake ducts to the MGP brake ducts on that day,” said Green. “And they commented on it and it was discussed.”

Tombazis “wasn’t at that factory visit, there were other of his colleagues”, Green pointed out.

“But it was discussed and it was shown. So we weren’t trying to hide the brake ducts, they were part of the submission that we gave to the FIA. And they did comment on how similar they were to the Mercedes and we commented on why they were so similar because we purchased the brake ducts in 2019.”

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**Did the FIA really overlook Racing Point’s disputed brake ducts – and will it matter?**

While the FIA originally hoped to rule on Renault’s protest before tomorrow’s race, they are now expected to issue a verdict in the middle of next week.

Green believes Racing Point have a “very strong” case.

“We’ve been working on it the last couple of weeks. Some documents went to the FIA at the weekend and our defence went to the stewards a couple of days ago. The lawyers have been working on it intensely over the last week or so.

“We think that [the protest] should be dismissed. I think the regulations are quite clear and we’ve made that case quite clear how the regulations are. And we can see that we’ve done everything within the regulations. So we don’t think there’s a case to answer.”

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9 comments on “Racing Point insists FIA did inspect its brake ducts before the season began”

falken (@falken)
1st August 2020, 20:25

“Brake ducks”

Also, still have to keep logging back in several times a day…
X1Znet (@x1znet)
1st August 2020, 20:27

This is first time I read that Racing Point actually “purchased the brake ducts in 2019.”
So the decision really hinges on how to interpret what can be done with parts whose “Listed” status changed — and it seems to be perfectly legal.
1. LB (@burden93)
  1st August 2020, 20:57
  
  Yeah I didn’t know this. They would be expected to be very similar then!
BLS (@brightlampshade)
1st August 2020, 20:33

Well if Tracing Point are telling the truth the FIA are in a bit of a pickle. They can’t rule against them having given them the go ahead. Same with the DAS issue, the FIA ok’d it. It comes down to a governing body once again being incapable at governing.
1. zbs13 (@zbs13)
  1st August 2020, 23:02
  
  So, in your opinion, if the governing body finds a team’s conduct compliant with existing regulations, then the governing body is incapable of governing? So the only way a governing body is capable of governing is if it always rules against all teams’ conduct?
  1. anon
    2nd August 2020, 9:28
    
    I take it he is critical of one part of the governing body giving approval, whilst another part doesn’t seem to be aware of what was and wasn’t inspected.
2. slowmo (@slowmo)
  1st August 2020, 23:04
  
  The FIA okaying something doesn’t mean it complies, neither does it exclude you from protest of the legality. Ultimately the stewards enforce the laws and they will check your car when it first enters scrutineering on a race weekend. The FIA cannot control the stewards decision.
  1. SteveR
    1st August 2020, 23:10
    
    The FIA okaying something doesn’t mean it complies,
    
    Then why even have the FIA visit the factory?
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
2nd August 2020, 5:47

This Tombazis guy is the worst. He’s giving lean to RP comment before the trial when he supposed to be neutral but also saying FIA didn’t inspect RP brake duct when he didn’t really knew the facts.