Renault withdraws appeals against Racing Point

Thunderclap on the green carpet a few days before the Belgian Grand Prix (August 28-30): Renault has decided to withdraw its appeals against the stewards' decisions regarding the Racing Point brake ducts. 

However, it was the French manufacturer which took the risk of going to the front at the Styrian Grand Prix (July 12) to challenge the legality of an RP20 clearly inspired by the Mercedes Last year's W10. 

After several complaints were filed, the commissioners ruled in favor of Renault, considering that the brake ducts of the car pink had been created by Mercedes. However, these components have been part of the Listed Parts since this year and must therefore be produced by each team if it wants to claim manufacturer status. F1. 

Racing Point was thus fined 400 euros and 000 penalty points based on the results of the Styrian GP. The other complaints, identical, only led to a series of reprimands that were tedious to say the least. 

When the verdict was announced, Renault, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams have indicated their intention to appeal the decision, just like Racing Point, for obviously opposite reasons. 

If Williams and McLaren, current and future Mercedes customer teams, ultimately did not follow through with their approach, Renault and Ferrari persisted and signed. Just like Racing Point on the other side. 

At the same time, Nikolas Tombazis, technical manager of single-seater series at the FIA, explained that measures would be taken from next season to avoid ending up with 10 Mercedes on the grid. The governing body thus wants to prevent teams from relying on the principle of reverse engineering and copying competitors based on photographs. 

The discussions visibly convinced Renault, which justifies its decision, which we were not really expecting, by the guarantees offered in the 2021 technical and sporting regulations. 

« Beyond the decisions, the matters in question were vital to the integrity of Formula 1, both for the current season and in the future., explained the manufacturer in a press release released late this Tuesday evening. 

Intensive and constructive work carried out between the FIA, Renault and all stakeholders in Formula 1 has, however, led to concrete progress in safeguarding originality within the sport through amendments to the Sporting and Technical Regulations planned for the 2021 season strengthening the criteria to be qualified as a manufacturer.

Achieving this strategic objective in the context of the new Concorde Agreement was our priority. The controversy at the start of the season is now behind us and we are focusing on the rest of this intense and unique championship. »

Has Renault obtained compensation in the negotiations on the 2021-2025 Concorde Agreements, the ratification of which by all 10 teams in the current field was confirmed last week? What will Racing Point and Ferrari do now?

There is no doubt that the Belgian Grand Prix which is looming on the horizon will provide some answers. 

UPDATE: It seems that Ferrari still wishes to obtain clarification from the governing bodies. The Italian appeal would therefore be maintained for the moment.