Ferrari v Racing Point as 'duct-gate' appeal will go ahead

Formula 1

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Ferrari v Racing Point as 'duct-gate' appeal will go ahead

Renault withdrew from the process last week

Ian Parkes

Tuesday 1 September 2020 14:24

Ferrari and Racing Point have both confirmed their intention to pursue an International Court of Appeal hearing into Formula 1's ongoing brake duct saga.

Last week Renault withdraw from the appeal process, citing what it described as the "intensive and constructive work" between all involved in F1 to amend the 2021 sporting and technical regulations to ensure there was no future risk of copying.

It means Racing Point now goes head-to-head with Ferrari only, with Szafnauer determined to clear his team's name at the ICA hearing after it was docked 15 constructors' championship points and fined €400,000.

Confirming Racing Point's intention, Szafnauer said: "We are definitely continuing.

"It does show that with new rules coming in next year that the rules weren't clear, and as you know, Formula 1 is all about exploiting the rules to the edge.

"That's what we did, and we believe we were within the rules, so we're continuing."

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto claims it is "important" for F1 that his team seeks "clarity and transparency on the facts".

Binotto said: "It never happened, if I look at the past years, that a team almost copied the entire car.

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"So for the future, I think it's important to know what's possible or not. It's not good for the sport itself, for the fans of the competition."

From Szafnauer's perspective, he is at least grateful Renault was as good as its word in declaring it would withdraw if it gained the change to the rules it had been seeking over the matter.

"Renault said all along what they really wanted was clarity on the rules going forward," added Szafnauer.

"I think by the mere fact we all voted unanimously on technical and sporting regulation changes that will come in next year that give clarity on how much reverse engineering can be done via the use of photographs, Renault dropped their appeal because of that.

"It's good to know they did exactly as they said they were going to do. They said they just really wanted clarity and nothing else, and now that they have it, they have dropped their appeal."

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