Racing Point stunned by "ruthlessness" of rivals

Racing Point

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Racing Point stunned by "ruthlessness" of rivals

Animosity arose between teams over brake-duct saga

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Sunday 27 December 2020 11:00

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Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed to learning a lot from the "ruthlessness" of its rivals following a controversial 2020 season.

Racing Point was deducted 15 points and fined €400,000 for running illegal brake ducts after continual protests from Renault.

The decision led to divisiveness in the paddock as a number of teams threatened to protest what they saw as the leniency of the punishment until the FIA intervened and introduced new regulations that calmed tensions.

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Whilst Szafnauer has continually reiterated the parts used on the RP20 were all legal, he has conceded the saga has provided a brutal learning point as a team principal.

"There are a lot of lessons, including the ruthlessness of some of our competitors," he told GPFans Global.

"Don't let the facts stand in the way of a good story. All that kind of stuff. For example, from what we did to the brake ducts was completely legal, it was a transition year from listed parts to non-listed parts.

"We did nothing different and actually, our brake ducts were much more in line with the regulations than some others like Haas and Toro Rosso, for example, who just bought Ferrari ones. We actually designed them ourselves.

"So it just teaches you that even though you are on the right side of the regulations or the law, people can come after you anyway. That I have learnt."

Despite the ruling on the illegal brake ducts happening in August, Szafnauer is still reeling from the decision and has accused the FIA of being indecisive.

"It grates with me because I know we did absolutely nothing wrong," he added. "We informed the FIA in the winter before we started racing.

"Everything was okay and then people changed their minds. That's the thing that grates with me."