Formula 1

Racing Point withdraws appeal over brake duct penalty

by Scott Mitchell-Malm
3 min read

Racing Point has withdrawn its appeal of the stewards’ decision regarding its Formula 1 car’s brake ducts, having initially pledged to launch a strong defence.

The team was fined and docked 15 constructors’ championship points after being deemed to have illegally designed its rear brake ducts using Mercedes information.

Racing Point was adamant it had done nothing wrong and laid the blame squarely on ambiguous regulations and guidance around the transition of brake ducts from being a non-listed part to a listed part for 2020.

It had purchased Mercedes’ brake ducts legally before the rules changed and incorporated that information into its designs for 2020.

This occurred in the context of the wider RP20 car design being a copy of the 2019 Mercedes, which Racing Point insisted was done by legal photography and analysis.

Racing Point appealed the decision to clear its name – with team chairman Lawrence Stroll also launching a stinging attack on rival teams for appealing in an attempt to get a harsher punishment applied and pressure the FIA into finalising new rules to prevent ‘copycat’ designs.

However, all those rivals except Ferrari have since withdrawn their appeals, citing the progress made by the FIA in establishing anti-copying regulations.

Racing Point has now declared a “resolution” has been reached and says it is “pleased the FIA has provided much-needed clarification of the rules on listed and non-listed parts”.

“The stewards and all parties involved in the appeals process recognise that there was a lack of clarity in the regulations and that we did not deliberately break them,” Racing Point said in a statement.

“Now that the ambiguity around the regulations has been settled, we have decided to withdraw our appeal in the wider interests of the sport.

“This issue has been a distraction for us and the other teams, but now we and everyone else can get back to focusing solely on what we’re all here to do: racing hard and providing excitement and entertainment for the millions of F1 fans around the world.”

Racing Point’s decision is a big step towards avoiding a drawn-out case with the FIA’s International Court of Appeal, which many parties wanted to avoid.

Ferrari is the only team still committed to a court case as it stands but is believed to be willing to drop its appeal as well, although the matter remains unclear as the team was hoping to use it as leverage in a different argument around permitted car development rules for 2021.

McLaren, Racing Point, Ferrari and Renault are currently locked in a battle for third place in the 2020 constructors’ standings, the four teams separated by just nine points coming into the Italian Grand Prix.

Race Results

Pos Name Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 53 26 1h47m06.056s 1m24.037s 2 25
2 Carlos Sainz McLaren-Renault 53 1 +0.415s 1m23.882s 2 18
3 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 53 0 +3.358s 1m23.897s 1 15
4 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 53 0 +6s 1m24.232s 2 12
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53 0 +7.108s 1m23.961s 2 10
6 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 53 0 +8.391s 1m23.898s 2 8
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 26 +17.245s 1m22.746s 3 7
8 Esteban Ocon Renault 53 0 +18.691s 1m24.49s 2 4
9 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 53 0 +22.208s 1m24.479s 2 2
10 Sergio Pérez Racing Point-Mercedes 53 0 +23.224s 1m24.336s 2 1
11 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 53 0 +32.876s 1m24.999s 2 0
12 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 53 0 +35.164s 1m24.785s 2 0
13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 53 0 +36.312s 1m24.835s 2 0
14 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 53 0 +36.593s 1m24.421s 2 0
15 Alex Albon Red Bull-Honda 53 0 +37.533s 1m24.926s 2 0
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 53 0 +55.199s 1m24.856s 3 0
Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 29 0 DNF 1m25.539s 3 0
Charles Leclerc Ferrari 23 0 DNF 1m26.026s 1 0
Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 17 0 DNF 1m25.787s 1 0
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 5 0 DNF 1m27.107s 1 0
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