Haas jokes about Racing Point/Mercedes similarities

This will probably not have escaped you: the Racing Point RP20, which we discovered on the track for the first time during the start of winter testing F1, looks furiously like the Mercedes Last year's W10. 

Nothing very surprising when we know that the German manufacturer supplies the rear axle, transmission, and propulsion to the Silverstone team via a close technical partnership. Racing Point has also been using the Mercedes wind tunnel since last May, according to comments from technical director Andy Green collected by our colleagues atCar engine and sport. 

From there, “ there are not 36 ways to make airflow work », to quote the words of Romain Grosjean when it was pointed out to him at the start of the season that the Haas VF-20 shared the DNA of the Ferrari 2019. The American team, in fact, has been in the sights of Force India/Racing Point in recent seasons, which accused its American rival of easy plagiarism. 

Criticisms that Guenther Steiner has not forgotten, even if he finds nothing wrong with the similarities between the RP20 and the W10. 

« Sometimes it's better to turn your tongue 7 times in the mouth before speaking, quipped the main Haas team from Barcelona. One day you may find yourself on the other side of the fence. We all know that they have complained a lot in recent years and the circle has come full circle today.

The regulations are very clear: they use a lot of Mercedes components; why would they bother to copy a Red Bull ? Same for us. We receive a lot of Ferrari parts. From there, who do you think we will draw inspiration from? Probably the Ferrari.

We would be stupid to copy a Red Bull by trying to invent something that we don't have in our hands. Racing Point does its best with the authorized model ». 

As the budget cap of 175 million dollars (161 million euros) introduced in 2021 approaches, some are worried about seeing the big cars in the championship arming their satellite team more and more. A situation which would then harm independent structures that do not have a junior team. This is particularly the case of Renault, McLaren, and Williams.

Carlos Sainz was also moved on the evening of the first day of winter testing. “ McLaren has high ambitions in Formula 1 but when you see teams arriving with a B version of a Mercedes or a Red Bull, we say to ourselves that it will be very complicated for us to really progress in the hierarchy “, regretted the Spaniard. 

Contacted by AUTOhebdo in the Barcelona paddock, Renault officials did not wish to comment on the subject. Not yet at least.