Renault protests legality of Racing Point design

Renault has officially protested the legality of the Racing Point car following the Styrian Grand Prix, questioning whether the team has designed all of the required parts.

This year’s Racing Point bears a striking resemblance to last year’s championship-winning Mercedes, and was the center of attention in pre-season testing from midfield rivals. While there was no official protest against the car’s legality at the opening race of the season when Sergio Perez finished sixth, Renault lodged one following today's second race in Austria.

The protest is against an “alleged breach of Art. 2.1, 3.2, Appendix 6 Paragraph 1, 2(a) and 2(c) of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations 2020”, with the first two articles stating the team will observe the provisions of the regulations and always comply with them throughout practice and the race.

The Appendix items in question relate to Listed Parts, with Paragraph 1 stating: “A competitor shall, in respect of the Listed Parts to be used in its cars in Formula 1, only use Listed Parts which are designed by it.”

Listed Parts are ones that cannot be purchased from another team, and must be designed by each team independently.

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In the case of outsourcing the design or manufacture of Listed Parts, Paragraph 2(a) states a team can only do so if “It retains the exclusive right to use the Listed Parts in Formula 1 so long as it competes in Formula 1,” and 2(c) adds “In the case of the outsourcing of design, such third party shall not be a competitor or a party that directly or indirectly designs Listed Parts for any competitor”.

Daniel Ricciardo finished Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring in eighth place, directly behind the two Racing Point cars as Sergio Perez limped to the finish with a broken front wing having shown the pace to challenge Alex Albon’s Red Bull for fourth. Perez had damaged the wing trying to overtake Albon, and finished sixth, less than 0.1s ahead of teammate Lance Stroll as Ricciardo ensured they went three-wide to the line.

Both teams were summoned to the stewards at 9:20pm local time in Austria.