Racing Point believes that its model of partnership with a manufacturer will help it “sit on the heels” of the biggest Formula 1 teams, having built a Mercedes-inspired car for 2020.
The Silverstone-based outfit RP20 drew inspiration from important visual cues from last year’s Mercedes design, aided by the use of the German automaker’s suspension, gearbox and blower.
While some competitors are dissatisfied with his decision because they think all F1 teams should design and build their own cars, Racing Point is clear that it has only done what is allowed in the rules.
With a promising pace for the coming season as well, technical director Andrew Green thinks that his approach will suit him in the longer term.
“We can sit on the tail of some great teams,” he said. “And why not? For a team like us of 400 to 500 people, this is a great place.”
Green said that without the finances to be able to take over the power of automakers like Mercedes and Ferrari, receiving help from elsewhere was very important.
“I think our strategy is always to be a small / medium team,” he said. “It makes financial sense, and being subject to a cost cap, to work with a manufacturer on certain components.
“We’ve been working this way since we worked with McLaren on the transmission hydraulics.
“We have had Mercedes gearbox and hydraulics since 2015 and have just increased this offer slightly for this year.
“We will also assess this possibility under the new regulations, but I think there is an advantage to be gained.”
Green said that Racing Point’s decision to abandon its own design to pursue something entirely different that had been proven by another team was the result of the outfit simply having money to make the change.
When asked if it was a mistake not to have done so before, Green replied, “Sure. But we couldn’t get there earlier.
“Our hands were tied financially for many, many years. We had to carry over a huge amount of components from year to year.
“It was not possible to perform a reset as we did.
“We didn’t have the financial resources, we didn’t have the people, and we didn’t have the manufacturing capacity either.
“It takes a lot of infrastructure changes to be able to do what we just did.”
