Racing Point: "We wanted to do the same thing as the Renault" – F1 Team – Formula 1

In Formula 1 the boundary between genius and illegality has always been very subtle and this is also the charm of this sport. After the Japanese Grand Prix, thanks to a complaint lodged by the Racing Point, it was the FIA ​​that was targeted Renault braking system. In particular the breakdown of braking connected to the GPS system and judged illegal by the Federation, so much so as to lead to the disqualification of the two yellow-black cars from the final classification of the Suzuka race.

Renault renounces the appeal for exclusion in Japan

Talking with Sky UK the team principal of the team, Otmar Szafnauer, however, he revealed how the protest of his team was born: "It all started at Silverstone, where we had problems with our braking distribution system – has explained – at that point we started looking at what we could do to make it more robust. Then we noticed that Renault had an automatic system that we really wanted to replicate. We didn't want to protest against Renault, we just wanted to do the same. So we wrote to the FIA, but they told us categorically that we couldn't do it. We hoped the Federation would say through the complaint "Yes, you can too." But it didn't happen that way".

A former Renault engineer behind the Racing Point protest

Meanwhile, the Renault wanted to respond on his official Twitter profile to the controversies of these days, in particular inherent to a video re-launched by Auto Motor und Sport and transmitted by different media showing the functioning of the braking distributor during the filming day early season in Barcelona: "We would like to clarify some facts – was explained by the Enstone team – is shooting a video of the Barcelona tests; shows a legal system, known and now confirmed by the FIA ​​to comply with technical standards. Since we had nothing to hide about this innovative system, we have not hidden anything. The information provided by the Racing Point and brought in front of us and to the FIA ​​members after the Japanese GP was obtained through a former employee of the Renault team who had joined the Racing Point and not only through this video ".

The information submitted by Racing Point, was received via Renault F1 Team ex-employee who had joined Racing Point and not only via this video. (2/2)

– Renault F1 Team (@ RenaultF1Team) October 25, 2019

Szafnauer was very clear on the question of the actual driving assistance that this automatic allocation system would provide: "There is a line that defines what is a help to the guide and what is not. Having to manually change the braking distribution … sometimes it's an easy thing to do, but other times if you have three or four things to do before a curve, you might not make it in time. Doing it automatically certainly helps the pilot".