[ 2020 ] Racing Point F1 Team - Mercedes

[Ground Effect]

Hard to imagine that there’s even a hint of consideration in replacing Checo and keeping Lance instead.

[Big Tea]

Hard to imagine that there’s even a hint of consideration in replacing Checo and keeping Lance instead.

To us maybe, but why are they there? for our benefit or their own?
I dont see them damaging the team though

[Fulcrum]

Supposing RP is a 2019 Mercedes, today's results imply the entire grid is more than a year behind Mercedes level of development, at least at this track?

[Emag]

Mercedes was a beast last year. There were some track where they were pulling huge distances over Ferrari and RedBull. Also these two teams are struggling a bit with their cars this year so the distance is amplified even more.

[proteus]

More and more i see why is their copying of Mercedes the smartest idea. They managed to get a top car with little to no effort and with minimal funds. This car is maybe even capable of getting them to 2nd or 3rd position in final standings, which will mean a massive financial boost in terms of prize money right from the start of their 2021 campaign and transformation.

After today it is obvious they wont just fade away, they have managed to proceed to Q3 with harder compound which means the car itself is more than capable of leading the midfield. If they iron out themself, second spot in the standings is theirs to take. RedBull and Ferrari both have faulty cars and Mclaren wont be able to keep up with the raw qualifying pace.

[Big Tea]

IF, and it is not likley, but possible, IF RP finish the season infront of Mercedes, does anyone think they will protest them? If anyone knows where the bodies are berried,its Merc

[El Scorchio]

IF, and it is not likley, but possible, IF RP finish the season infront of Mercedes, does anyone think they will protest them? If anyone knows where the bodies are berried,its Merc

I don’t think they realistically could. They’d just have to swallow their medicine. However they do seem to be one of the few teams that’s made progress themselves year on year. Imagine the embarrassment if they’d created a new car that was a step back, like the RB and Ferrari seem to be at this moment in time and were genuinely behind RP!

[Big Tea]

IF, and it is not likley, but possible, IF RP finish the season infront of Mercedes, does anyone think they will protest them? If anyone knows where the bodies are berried,its Merc

I don’t think they realistically could. They’d just have to swallow their medicine. However they do seem to be one of the few teams that’s made progress themselves year on year. Imagine the embarrassment if they’d created a new car that was a step back, like the RB and Ferrari seem to be at this moment in time and were genuinely behind RP!

Personally, I think they would be quite happy about it. The Mercedes name is attached to it via the Engine, and there has been so much talk of it being a Mercedes car they gain either way.

[El Scorchio]

IF, and it is not likley, but possible, IF RP finish the season infront of Mercedes, does anyone think they will protest them? If anyone knows where the bodies are berried,its Merc

I don’t think they realistically could. They’d just have to swallow their medicine. However they do seem to be one of the few teams that’s made progress themselves year on year. Imagine the embarrassment if they’d created a new car that was a step back, like the RB and Ferrari seem to be at this moment in time and were genuinely behind RP!

Personally, I think they would be quite happy about it. The Mercedes name is attached to it via the Engine, and there has been so much talk of it being a Mercedes car they gain either way.

Valid point when you think of it that way, but I think the works team would be absolutely embarrassed at being beaten by their old equipment driven by arguably inferior drivers. There would probably be some very serious questions about the ROI for the 2020 car!

[NL_Fer]

Supposing RP is a 2019 Mercedes, today's results imply the entire grid is more than a year behind Mercedes level of development, at least at this track?

According to Toto, Racing Point took last years car and developed that concept even further. At some corners it could be faster than Mercedes 2020, because they changed their concept.

[King Six]

Honestly I don't see what the big deal is. In fact I thought it was presumed that teams are constantly snapping and making extremely detailed observations of competitors cars since aerodynamics was considered important in Formula One, and maybe even before. Almost the entire purpose of this forum/website is to do just that!

So if a team decided to sit down and actually make a real full throttle attempt at copying a competitors car, fair play to them. I would say traditionally the risks outweigh the benefits as they don't get to fully understand the car as they would their own true design, but technology has progressed so much that much of the guesswork, dead-reckoning, analysis etc.. in copying a team based on video and picture evidence seems to now be a workable method. You'd still need a talented team to really pull it off though.

Now if Mercedes was actually helping RP then that would be a different story. Otherwise there's nothing that can stop someone taking a picture and making an exact replica of what they've seen...

And on another note they have been shafted for so long on the prize money compared to teams who perform worse than them but still get more money that frankly, they shouldn't care what those teams think of them.

[Jolle]

There is of course a very dirty legal loophole if the brake ducts are the same on the inside.

last year it was allowed to buy a duct from another team (and that is what HAAS did from Ferrari and why they have problems with their brakes now). What if.... Mercedes bought the ducts for their W10 from Racing Point.... and this year designed their own?

[Blackout]

"However, Racing Point can't forget the knowledge gained from using the Mercedes 2019 brake ducts. I think it is illogical to think that they can erase that from their memories. It's a delicate problem, which has to be solved by the FIA experts." https://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/fr/ ... 50398.html

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

That's what I thought when I heard Budkowski's point of view, but after checking, It seems to me RP did not use Mercedes dcuts last year. They used 3 or 4 different designs, one or two copied the Mercedes design a bit, but they were RP ducts because the internal ducts look very different, in addition to the design of the visible parts.
If they bought the design legally in 2019, they didn't use it in 2019 IMO...
https://i.servimg.com/u/f87/14/79/55/26/d-nu_210.jpg
https://i87.servimg.com/u/f87/14/79/55/26/d13i_310.jpg
https://i87.servimg.com/u/f87/14/79/55/26/9867d310.jpg

[Mchamilton]

Supposing RP is a 2019 Mercedes, today's results imply the entire grid is more than a year behind Mercedes level of development, at least at this track?

considering how far backwards red bull were from their own performance from last year in qualifying, then its no surprise

[Mchamilton]

IF, and it is not likley, but possible, IF RP finish the season infront of Mercedes, does anyone think they will protest them? If anyone knows where the bodies are berried,its Merc

lets be real, thats has 2 chances of happening, bob chance.. and no chance