Half of the grid currently plan to appeal against FIA decision on Racing Point brake duct design; More teams angry about sanction
Saturday 8 August 2020 13:02, UK
Five teams have stated their intention to appeal against the FIA's verdict on Racing Point's 2020 car.
Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Williams - and Racing Point themselves - have notified the FIA of their respective current plans.
While Racing Point are set to challenge the verdict in its entireity, it is likely the four rival three teams are contesting the leniency of the sanction meted out, and the fact they are able to race with the parts it has been ruled they had illegally drawn inspiration from Mercedes to design.
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"We can confirm that we have just stated our intention to appeal against this morning's FIA Stewards' decision regarding Racing Point," read a short Ferrari statement.
Ferrari, McLaren and Renault were the first teams to lodge their intention to appeal, and did so at the end of a Friday of high political drama in F1, which started in the morning with the FIA confirming Racing Point had been deducted 15 points and fined €400,000 (£361,000) over their brake duct design.
Teams had 24 hours to state their intention to appeal after that decision was revealed, and the three aforementioned outfits will now be granted a further 96 hours to confirm they are going ahead to the FIA's International Court of Appeal.
It always appeared likely that a rival team would contest the FIA's penalty, with Renault - who initially protested the Racing Point cars and their brake ducts in the first place - admitting they were considering doing so.
There has been anger that Racing Point are able to race their cars, without penalty, with their 2020 parts.
Team bosses from Williams, Alfa Romeo and Red Bull were also displeased, with Mercedes' Toto Wolff claiming they had unfairly formed a "little revolution" against Racing Point.
Racing Point have protested their innocence throughout.
McLaren boss Zak Brown called the sanction "BS" and "very confusing" earlier in the day, while Ferrari's Mattia Binotto commented on the FIA's decision: "One thing that is important is that it has been clarified that there has been a breach of regulation. I think that is the starting point.
"Obviously that is relative to the braking ducts but there is an entire concept behind, which is about copying: are we allowed to copy or not, an entire concept? But the two things need to be split.
"On the braking duct there is a breach of regulation, that is a fact and it has been clarified. Is the penalty sufficient or not? Again, I think we need to go through carefully the 14 pages.
"There are 24 hours eventually for an intention of appeal. I think as Ferrari we will be very careful in understanding and deciding what is the next step."
