Why Racing Point Chose to Copy Mercedes for Its 2020 Car

Racing Point CEO Otmar Szafnauer recently revealed why the team chose to follow Mercedes’ design philosophy for their 2020 car. For the unaware, Racing Point’s 2020 car bears a strong resemblance to last year’s Championship winning car from Mercedes. So much so, that several fans and experts, dubbed the RP20 as a “Pink Mercedes”.

Why Racing Point borrowed from Mercedes

When Racing Point turned up at Barcelona for pre-season testing, they caught everyone by surprise. It’s not unusual for teams to turn up with a different car from launch day for testing. However, the RP20 looked very familiar.

On closer look, it was apparent that Racing Point had borrowed heavily from the W10 for its 2020 car. The aerodynamics, the nose, the front wing – the only way one could find any differences between the W10 and RP20 was the bright coat of pink. However, the Racing Point’s aesthetic achievement also echoed the W10’s true performance on the track.

The Silverstone outfit looked mighty quick on the Catalunya Circuit during preseason testing. After the first few days of testing, it was clear that Racing Point was a force to be reckoned with. Some even suggested the team could challenge the top 3! Now, that may seem like a stretch but anything can happen in F1.

Szafnauer disclosed the reason behind choosing Mercedes’s design philosophy. Otmar said that the main reason had to do with the car’s gearbox, which the team borrows from Mercedes.  Speaking to F1.com, Szafnauer said:

“We have been looking at that concept for a long time, mainly because we are constrained with the gearbox that we buy from Mercedes,”

“Mercedes have developed their gearbox casing to go along with that concept.

“We would buy that casing from them and use a totally different aero concept,

“So for a long time, we wanted to move to the Mercedes-type aerodynamic concept – not having a high rake, a lower rear end – but we just never had the financial resources to do it

Sergio Perez confessed that the RP20 was the best F1 car he had ever driven. They may have copied Mercedes’s car but can they replicate the Brackley outfit’s dominance on the track?