Renault to press ahead with Racing Point and Ferrari protests

Renault

Renault to press ahead with Racing Point and Ferrari protests

The lockdown hasn't changed everything

Sam Hall

Wednesday 6 May 2020 17:00 Updated: 01:25

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Renault will not hold back on challenging the legality of the Racing Point entry once Formula 1 returns to action.

Discussions on how best to cut costs in Formula 1 have been ongoing during the lockdown period. Although the method of 'design by photography' employed by Racing Point may be a cost saving measure of itself, Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul insists his team still intend to protest the legality of the RP20.

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“The meetings have been focused on short term survival and medium and long term sustainability of the sport, which is exactly what needs to happen,” Abiteboul told Formula1.com. “It’s important we side-line the most contentious topics we had over the winter. I’m sure these topics will come back as they are directly connected to the business model of F1.

“It’s all good and nice to agree on the budget cap level but if you can pool your resources, pool your research and development between the teams, it means the levels of budget cap we are talking about are not exactly the ones we are talking about so to a certain degree we’re talking about that.

"We’re not talking directly about the Racing Point case, we’re talking about what it means to be a constructor and what is a business case of being a constructor, that we are talking about and that is an interesting point.

“We will be thinking and talking about Racing Point legality later. By saying that, I’m not putting any threat, I’m just saying that we need to think about a bit more strategically in the current circumstance.”

Racing Point have been visited by FIA officials in relation to the RP20, the car bearing more than a slight resemblance to the 2019 Mercedes W10.

Abiteboul also made clear that Renault will continue to press ahead with their mission to force the FIA and Ferrari to release details of the 'settlement' reached with regards to their 2019 power unit.

“It’s something of the previous world, but it’s still something which at some point should be addressed,” continued Abiteboul.

“We live in a world which is totally open. We are not challenging the process, we only want to find out what happened. We want to find out what the legality concern was and also to make sure we are staying away from similar legality question marks.

“Very simply, I’m an engine manufacturer myself, I want to make sure my engine doesn’t pose the same legality question mark. I don’t think so. But I think it only makes sense if the regulations are clear and the decisions are clear for all participants – that’s what we’re asking. We have no intent to change what has been done. We would like to know in order to move on.“