The "customer cars" has been discussed at lenght but the rules right now are those: you can´t buy a car from another team. In any case, the idea of buying "old cars" can be a bit dangerous: what can do a team that always has bought old cars when there is a rule change?
This. Last year's Merc is not competing in this year's races. In 1980 one of the smaller teams (forgot the name, they were sponsored by Penthouse IIRC) made a carbon copy of the Williams FW07. It was mildly competitive as technology had already moved on.
I suppose you cross that bridge when you come to it. I can already think of solutions to remedy that, but then, I am a bit devious !!!
Imagine if the rules said that "last year's car design of the champion should become public domain of the F1 teams". It would attract a lot of small teams with zero engineering development experience, but they would still be relatively competitive. What Mercedes just did then?
Please guys, write down the following: - In 2021 Mercedes announce they will be only supplying engines after 2022. - Mercedes exchange the shares of its F1 team with the shares of the Aston Martin car division; Stroll and Wolf become the sole owners of the Brackley team. - Stroll sells Racing Point to Mazepin or to SMP Racing from Russia. - Stroll offers the best paying contract in F1 history to Hamilton for 2022/2023, with the secondary task to mentor Stroll Jr.
I imagine (I have no proof of this) that MB transfered some of their 2019 design IP to Racing Point. So RP could use it for their 2020 car, with the FIA approval. Personally I cannot see anything wrong with that, but it seems that Renault wishes to open another can of worms about the brake cooling ducts.
Nothing like a fertile imagination ! But you could be right, who knows ? There are so many rumours going around. I can see Mercedes leaving F1 at some point, but I can't guess the timing.
Imagination inspired by my experience meeting Stroll Snr ^Stroll Jr. He is obsessed with trying to make the Lance a champion, whatever it takes.
Brundle: Difficult to believe Racing Point F1 copied '19 Mercedes so well https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/150911/brundle-hard-to-think-racing-point-copied-merc-so-well
McLaren raise some interesting points about info like aero maps and not publicly available photos as ways info could have been transferred without necessarily trading in engineering definition: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/150904/mclaren-rules-need-tightened-to-stop-car-copying
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/151022/renault-lodges-third-racing-point-protest Renault has formally lodged a protest over the legality of Racing Point's Formula 1 car for the third race in a row following Sunday's British Grand Prix. Renault is currently embroiled in a row with Racing Point over the design of its RP20 car, which shares a number of similarities with the 2019 championship-winning Mercedes W10. Racing Point has always maintained that while the car was designed based off the concept of last year's Mercedes, it was done so within the regulations. A formal protest was lodged against Racing Point by Renault following each of the last two races, the Styrian Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix, centring on the legality of the RP20's brake ducts. The FIA is conducting a full investigation into the matter, but failed to hold a hearing or make a ruling ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix. It has prompted Renault to lodge a third protest against Racing Point, as confirmed by the FIA stewards at Silverstone less than two hours after the end of the race. Representatives from Renault and Racing Point are set to report to the stewards at Silverstone at 5:30pm, but the meeting will be a mere formality given the ongoing investigation. The protest has only been lodged against one Racing Point car, that of Lance Stroll who finished in ninth place, as Nico Hulkenberg failed to start due to a power unit issue.
I disagree. Given the lack of data on the Ferrari - FIA deal, slow action on this protest as well, Renault have a good right to ask again. They pay alot to be in F1 and can use the system and rules in place to seek clarification. Something that is owed to the other competitors on this issue about Clone - Point. RedBull are pushing for the release of the information on Ferrari - FIA.
They protest 1 car this weekend. A distinct protest. Stewards and FIA must allow it, it appears. Time for the system to respond.
Renault launches another protest against Racing Point - this time just against Lance Stroll's car as Hulkenberg didn't start. Renault's made clear it'll keep protesting RP's brake ducts until the case is resolved. The FIA's made clear it'll scoop them all into one verdict.
If Renault does not protest each race weekend AND the verdict is the the car IS illegal (from one of the protests) THEN only the races that are protested get eliminated from the "books".
If you spend 300 or so million a year in a sport, and someone else comes along and illegally takes IP from another team (sharing IP is illegal, so even being given and using it is breaking the rules), you would be pretty pissed, too. I know you want to allow it because it goes against the grain of popular believe, of course.
Not to talk about the fact that with the new rules rushed for next year they can use this years’ Merc plus all the tokens. The FIA should be the ones investigated first. Force India Assistance?
It's a complete farce, the whole thing. I'd be getting nervous if I had just spend 9 billion buying a sport.
Exactly, when you lodge a complain, you must give time for the authorities to examine its validity, hear the different parties, launch an enquiry, bring experts to make a report, hold a trial, hear the parties presenting their case, allow cross-examination, delibarate and finally give a judgement. All that takes time and cannot be done in a hurry. I cannot see why Renault keeps appealing for the same thing, but do not give time for tha FIA to thouroughly examine the case.
