FIA to consider ‘pink Mercedes’ protest on Wednesday

Will the 'pink' Mercedes be considered legal?

(GMM) F1's governing body will consider the legality of Racing Point's 'pink Mercedes' on Wednesday.

It comes as Renault on Sunday lodged a third consecutive official protest against the car's brake inlets, with team advisor Alain Prost arguing that Racing Point must have got "outside help" with the design from Mercedes.

AFP France claims the matter will finally be considered by the stewards on Wednesday, although an actual decision may then take a further week to be announced.

Racing Point insists that its Mercedes-powered car, which strongly resembles last year's title-winning works Mercedes, is fully legal.

"During a visit to our factory, the FIA reviewed all the documentation about our brake ducts," said technical boss Andy Green.

"On the same day, they compared the design with Mercedes' and gave their comments."

However, the FIA's technical chief Nikolas Tombazis said recently that during the factory visit, the actual brake cooling ducts were in fact not discussed.

Green said: "He was not there during that inspection, but his colleagues were. We showed them and discussed everything.

"We did not try to hide the design – they were part of the presentation we gave to the FIA," he insisted.

"They commented on the similarity of the solution to the Mercedes solution, and we explained that it is because we bought air ducts from Mercedes in 2019, when it was allowed.

"Our lawyers have been dealing with this issue for a couple of weeks now, and we sent some more documents to the FIA over the weekend," said Green.

"We believe that the protest should be dismissed as we have demonstrated that we are acting in full compliance with the rules."

McLaren's Zak Brown, however, says he supports the protest lodged by Renault.

"Whether it's legal or not, I think Racing Point has gone too far," he is quoted by Le Journal de Montreal.

"There is always a certain degree of copying in F1, but there are still respectable limits."