With Visa Cashapp RB Openly Copying Red Bull, Shadow of the ‘Pink Mercedes’ Saga Re-Emerges

“I am extremely angry at any suggestion we have been underhand or have cheated, particularly those comments coming from our competitors. I have never cheated at anything in my life. These accusations are completely unacceptable and not true,” said a very infuriated Lawrence Stroll when the whole world pointed fingers at the Racing Point as they got unbelievably fast almost overnight. However, all the defenses of the Silverstone-based outfit fell flat as the team had to pay over $500,000 for copying Mercedes’ F1 car. But should we expect a similar fiasco this year?

It is almost a known fact and gospel that one cannot illegally copy another team’s car, nor can they ‘share’ any technology for the same. It is the very reason why Red Bull topped the charts from the top and its sister team, AlphaTauri, did so from the bottom. Christian Horner, on multiple occasions, has been seen saying it will be unethical to share intel even when the Red Bull group owns 2 outfits. But that boastful claim of integrity now seems a little stretched.

What was the Pink Merćedes Saga?

At pre-season testing of March 2020 (just before the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the season), onlookers spotted a ‘funny’ resemblance between the 2020 Racing Point RP20 and the 2019 Mercedes AMG F1 W10. Some nicknames that emerged were = ‘Tracing Point’ and ‘The Pink Mercedes’. While the case became more curious than that of Benjamin Button, Racing Point was initially deemed legal to race, but only till Renault succeeded in taking the team down.

In furtherance of this, Toto Wolff led Mercedes admitted that they supplied their detailed drawings and computer design of the brake ducts to Racing Point in 2019, as under the 2019 rules, this was permissible. However, the said practice was banned in 2020, so Racing Point was caught red-handed. They were fined over $500K and were stripped of 15 valuable championship points.

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But one tends to wonder if Christian Horner–who was such a big proponent in fighting for the legality of ‘Tracing Point’–was rookie enough to commit that mistake.

Will the Visa Cash App RB Team meet the same fateful end as Racing Point?

V-CARB or Visa Cash App RB Team witnessed significant progress in the second half of the 2023 campaign. It could be the Daniel Ricciardo effect or just the fact that they finally took some inspiration from their sister team. However, regardless of the reason the team wants to embark upon a new journey to be fighting in front of the pack and Red Bull’s RB-19 will be the key element in the same.

“We’re in a situation where we have an owner of two teams and naturally we’ve asked, ‘What can we share?’” Newly appointed TP of Faenza-based outfit, Laurent Mekies told Motorsport.com’s Italian publication. “We should share. We are reviewing the regulations and sharing what we can. But on the other hand, we are pushing as hard as we can to prepare ourselves to fight for bigger prizes.”

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Do you think V-CARB will be a front-runner in the upcoming 2024 season? If so, could they have found a legal way of copying one of the most dominant cars of F1; RB19? In my opinion, this is going to be a big turning point for the sister team as they already have solid drivers in Daniel and Yuki Tsunoda. And as the Red Bull team has often fought many legal battles, they are smarter than Stroll’s team to flout such prima facie rules. Regardless of what the loophole is, if that bunches up the grid together, it will be fun for the viewers and fans.

Editorial Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EssentiallySports.