Can We Expect More Penalties For Racing Point? What Do The Rivals Make Of The Team?

Rare and strange are those seasons where you are admired and reviled almost at the same time and even in the same breath. You think of this and in the current context of the sport you think of Racing Point. Which other team would you give the award for being F1’s most polarising figurehead if that were to be the case?

The car with its blazing speed, powered by the fastest and most potent engine (Mercedes) there is has done a world of good to rescue a quiet midfielder in a year where we are once again witnessing Mercedes boxing all others out of the grid.

But is that all?

Just like with great power comes responsibility, with great power, often comes challenging outcomes and where seen in the very recent team history, a massive penalty.

Not long after Renault complained to the FIA about certain irregularities about the RS 20 have the sport’s elite and prominent governing body strapped the Stroll-owned team with a massive fine.

Although it’s not really a regulation they’ve flouted, as suggested, Racing Point’s guilt- at the first round, Silverstone- has been established by the stewards issuing a ruling on the car’s brake ducts, the most controversial car part that, it’s believed, has led to the massive turnaround.

Having said so, it doesn’t please any fan of the white and pink liveried Mercedes-powered machine to note that after the stewards decided to uphold Renault’s protest, the team were fined a whopping 400,000 euros and along with it, 15 points.

If that loss were to take a physical size, you’d liken it to a T-Rex!

Nonetheless, one thing is certain. The Racing Point team garage would be one that would be determined to get a couple of challenges out of its way:

1. To get Nico Hulkenberg his car number 27 in the best-possible shape for the important quali battle and the main-action on race day. The latter is precisely something that couldn’t happen a week ago on Silverstone.
2. To find a way of getting all car parts and accessories out of trouble’s way.

But, while this year’s strongest midfielder outside the top two has its task cut out, one cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the rival teams have been stunned by the kind of developments taking place at the controversial team, so much so that many are simply suggesting whether this may just be the ‘tip of the iceberg?’

While the claims that the current car is nothing but last year’s car in reverse engineering mode is something that not only picked the interest of Renault- and hence the hefty protest- but might even see Red Bull and Ferrari join the rabble-rousing for.

On that note, interesting to note what the current team principals have to say:

I think it’s very difficult or likely impossible,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said. “If it has never happened in 70 years of Formula One it means that somehow it is not an idea that somebody simply thought about today.

“We believe it is not possible to copy and simply understand the full concept behind the car. It is something that, again we have said in a letter to the FIA, that we really argue the entire concept and entire process, we believe that the regulations are clear enough and we believe there may be a breach of regulation in that process.

“But at the moment we are looking ahead and looking forward and it’s something on which we need to clarify. I don’t think that the verdict of today is sufficient because it is only relevant to the brake ducts and not the entire concept, so I think it is only the tip of the iceberg but there is much to further discuss.

“But if it has never happened so far in the history of Formula One it means somehow it is almost impossible to do it.”

So tell us in the comment section below what you think is the actual concern here and what might happen to Racing Point in its imminent future. How many more penalties to come? Wish we could spend some days just conducting polls.