Lance Stroll, Racing Point, Silverstone, 2020

Renault submit third protest against Racing Point

2020 British Grand Prix

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Renault protested Racing Point for the third race in a row at the British Grand Prix.

The sole RP20 to take the chequered flag, driven by Lance Stroll, is subject to the same protest Renault lodged at the previous two races concerning the car’s brake ducts.

Stroll’s team mate Nico Hulkenberg failed to start the race due to a power unit problem.

“We confirm that Renault DP World F1 Team has submitted a request to the stewards of the event for clarification on the legality of the Racing Point RP20,” said Renault in a statement. “We have no further comment on this matter until the stewards have arrived at a decision.”

The FIA confirmed Renault’s third protest will be considered in addition to the previous two.

“A protest on the same subject was lodged at the 2020 Formula 1 Styrian Grand Prix and subsequently another protest on this subject was lodged at the 2020 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix. While the evidence submitted here by Renault was specific to the British Grand Prix, the form and subject of the protest was identical to the protests lodged at the previous Grand Prix. This has also been agreed by the parties to this protest.

“It is considered appropriate by the panel of stewards for the 2020 Formula 1 British Grand Prix to delegate our authority to a subsequent panel of stewards assembled for this purpose and which shall be selected by the authority responsible for the selection of the present panel. This is in accordance with Article 11.9.3.t of the 2020 FIA International Sporting Code.”

A decision on Renault’s three protests is expected next week.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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19 comments on “Renault submit third protest against Racing Point”

  1. In the name of F1’s consistency, there should ne 3 different decisions.
    Even when they promised a single one.

  2. not giving up sour grapes :)

    1. understand the process first

      1. this should not have gone on this far…. it is just plain stupid every weekend same complaint… RP says they have been given green light at season start, FIA should confirm or deny and then we would understand whether the process you keep nagging is right or wrong… FIA isnt known to disclose a lot of things, when a lot of obvious dodgy things are known by many teams… so this has nothing to do with processes but what FIA is doing behind curtains…

        1. Indeed Renault has no chance as RP designed the bloody part them self and can proof it.

          1. @macleod
            They may be able to prove that they have a design trail, but not they they designed it themselves.
            When they buy a part (or an entire car) from Mercedes, does it come with a design and CAD history? Perhaps it did, on this occasion.

            @mysticus
            Renault need to keep putting in protests for each event until the decision has been made. Any race result not protested cannot be affected officially.

  3. I get they have to until its resolved but you’d think the whole protesting thing would be structured in a way that they wouldn’t need to protest every race? Like once should cover all of them.

  4. Understandable – the rules mean they must, the process is what’s wrong here.

  5. Better use that money you have to pay for protest on being competent, Cyril.

  6. I believe it is necessary as they are protesting the result of each race. If no protest is received, the stewards do not need to investigate and the result stands. It could also be that if they don’t protest then the previous protests get wiped out.

  7. Why did they not protest for the Austrian Grand Prix?

    1. I think they stated it was to ensure that F1’s return after 8 months went smoothly and they didn’t want to protest the results of the first race in 8 months.

    2. Backroom deal on a hand shake.
      Bernie is alive and well

  8. I thought Renault’s right to protest a race result didn’t have to be done at every race, only at those it thought it was disadvantaged at. If that’s correct, then why did Renault protest this race result when both of their cars finished ahead of Racing Point’s only remaining car in the race?

    1. @drycrust a team can protest regardless of the finishing positions if they think another competitor is illegal. In this case even if Renault won’t get additional points should RP be DSQ, RP would still loose the 2 points from this race, meaning a lower score in the WCC

      1. @bakano Thanks, I had overlooked the End of the Year consequence of Renault’s protest (if it was successful).

  9. Gavin Campbell
    2nd August 2020, 23:53

    Think of the scenario if RP was ruled illegal but due to no Renault protest at the last few GPs the result stands.

    It’s admin at the end of the day – it could use some different terminology like “continued protest” etc.

  10. Not at all unexpected and obviously has to continue until a ruling is given.

    Interesting that it’s actually taking this long to resolve which suggests that there may be some fire under all the smoke. Quite likely that they’ve found the part identical but now having to rule on legal arguments that it was acquired in 2019 and therefor OK. Legal argument will take far longer than a technical assessment.

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