Racing Point confident there will be no protest over 'pink Mercedes'

Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer is confident there will be no protest of his team's latest Formula 1 car following this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.

The RP20 has caused a stir in F1 since it was unveiled in pre-season testing in Barcelona in March due its striking similarities to last year's title-winning Mercedes.

Many rivals have since bemoaned the car that served notice of its potential in practice at the Red Bull Ring, with Sergio Perez third quickest in FP2 behind Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

As to whether Szafnauer is concerned whether a rival will protest the legality of the car, he replied: "No, not at all. It shouldn't be a surprise the car is quick. We're using the Mercedes windtunnel, which is probably the best tool in the business.

"They've got great correlation, which means the efficiency of the tunnel is quite high, and also, we took the opportunity this year, because of our stronger financial situation, to depart from a high-rake concept that we got inspiration on from Red Bull.

"And we're always compromised, that when we're buying a powertrain and gearbox from Mercedes, they design their powertrain and gearbox to run a different aerodynamic concept than we are running.

"Therefore that high-rake concept that was so well developed by Red Bull would only work so much for us. We took the opportunity to get rid of that compromise and actually run a powertrain that was designed for a different aerodynamic philosophy, and that's what we did.

"It would only make sense to have a look at what Mercedes was doing if that's the kind of concept we were going to, and it worked out."

Perez claims the car "has great potential", adding: "I think the people back home in the factory have done a tremendous job. I'm really excited for the year to start.

"We've got a lot of work ahead of us but things are looking good. The car feels good and I'm happy."

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