Racing Point F1 Boss Reveals the “Big Risk” the Team Took by Copying Mercedes

Racing Point and their performances have thus far been one of the biggest talking points of the 2020 F1 campaign. The Silverstone-based outfit’s newest machine, the RP20, is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors.

However, the team have endured a lot of criticism for ‘copying’ Mercedes’ design for their 2020 car. Their midfield rival Renault have been very vocal about that fact and have even lodged a complaint with the FIA, not once but twice.

Nevertheless, that hasn’t deterred Racing Point from churning out some fantastic performances. With the RP20, they have a car that can be a serious contender to Red Bull as the second-best team in F1 this year.

However, Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer reveals that this wasn’t what they had expected during the early days of designing.

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Racing Point believed the RP20 was a ‘huge step backward’

Speaking to Autosport, the Racing Point boss said that they did not expect to make this big a leap as far as their drive is concerned. Far from it, they had thought it would be a lot slower than last year’s car.

Szafanuer revealed, “We didn’t know that what we were doing was going to work to the level that it has. There was a big risk that we were going to take a step backwards.

“As a matter of fact, when we started developing the tunnel, with the ideas that we saw through pictures. We took a huge step backwards. I mean huge.

“It was second per lap slower in the beginning and it was our own learning that we did for the development process of CFD and tunnel work. And more designs and redesigns that got us to the place we did.”

Anyway, by now, all of us know how competent their car really is. It certainly looks well set to find themselves on the podium over the course of the season.

However, the likes of McLaren have shown that they won’t be pushed over when it comes to competing for a podium finish. Despite the brilliance of the RP20, it’s the MCL35 that has been on the podium this year.

With the F1 action set to resume at Silverstone next week, who are you backing to come out on top?