F1: The 'Mercedes Rosa' are scary: can you copy in F1 and not break the rule?

The qualitative jump of Racing Point, with an almost traced car that made Hamilton champion in 2019, triggers criticism from its rivals and fuels the debate of the client teams.

On February 19, when Sergio Perez he roared the Racing Point car for the 2020 World Cup for the first time, all the paddock He stayed of stone in Montmeló. It was not necessary to know too much about Formula 1 to realize that the brand new RP20 was nothing like the one they had presented only two days before in the Austrian city of Mondsee. Nor was it necessary to be an aerodynamic expert to discover that the new prototype had an amazing resemblance to the Mercedes with which Lewis Hamilton He won his sixth world title last year.

Oblivious to the malicious comments that began to tour the circuit's corridors, Racing Point launched its first message to the competition. “We have designed this car from scratch, starting almost from a blank sheet,” he said. Andy Green, sports director of the British team. A week after that first warning, Green himself closed the last training session in Barcelona with another warning. “Now we are ahead of Ferrari and not far from Red Bull.”

During the six preseason days, the formidable performance of the RP20 in the hands of Pérez and Lance stroll, added to his notorious similarities with the W10, has earned him the nickname of pink Mercedes. Sometimes with admiration and sometimes, most, with suspicion. “Those who criticize us have not done a job as good as they should,” said Green, after the reproaches of McLaren, Renault and Haas, their great adversaries in the battle for the middle zone, stunned by the excellent performance of the RP20 in Montmeló , where Stroll marked the best time of the entire grid with the intermediate tire (1: 17.118) and Pérez left even better sensations, even without forcing to the maximum, with the soft tires.

“We weren't going to look at the worst”

“I had never driven such a good car in a preseason,” the Mexican concluded, after his overall count of 441 laps, at the level of Valtteri Bottas (437) or Charles Leclerc (442). Not a single mechanical problem. Not a scratch in the pink paint. How is such a qualitative leap possible in a car that lost more than a second in Abu Dhabi seven months ago compared to favorites?

Some of the answers to these questions were forged this winter at the Racing Point headquarters in Silverstone. Lawrence Stroll, owner of the team and father of Lance, had made clear guidelines to Otmar Szafnauer, team manager. A goal traced with tiralíneas: fight with the best. And what better example than Mercedes. “Our inspiration was the fastest car of 2019. We weren't going to look at the worst, logically,” admitted Green, who already had gearboxes and engines bought from the Silver Arrows.

Acquisitions allowed by the regulation, which also points out that the aerodynamics and the chassis must be specific to each team. Haas and Alfa Romeo, Ferrari customers, or AlphaTauri, a Red Bull subsidiary, had to stick to it in the past. In spite of everything, Stroll, Szafnauer and Green decided to assume the serious risk of a hypothetical bankruptcy of the norm. And they put their aerodynamic engineers to study dozens of W10 photographs in detail.

The first successes in the simulator did not wait. «On Christmas holidays we were told that the car looked good», he assures this newspaper Xavi Martos, Perez physical trainer, and connoisseur of the ins and outs of the team since the time of Force India. «In football everyone wants to look like Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo and the same thing happens here. You want to emulate the best, although always within the legality of the transfer of information », this former technician from Mexico continues Victor Valdes, supporter of the similarities between asphalt and grass.

«I like it when the money is in the car. As in football, when in the field. Stroll has spent a lot and now we enjoy that investment, ”says Martos, also emphasizing every small measure incorporated by the Canadian billionaire since the end of 2018.“ Food was an important issue. Now we have a more Mediterranean and balanced diet ”, details this 55-year-old from Barcelona, ​​aware that every detail can make a difference.

No distractions

“In the hospitality We have an exclusive area for coaches, pilots and family. A space with room and dining room, quieter and where capacity is limited. In this way we prevent unnecessary distractions at key moments, ”he emphasizes on the new optics incorporated by Stroll, much more professional and puny than in the times of the previous owner, the eccentric Vijay Mallya.

From the outside, Stroll's strong commitment in F1 is often interpreted as the simple whims of a business tycoon bored of his business and determined to boost his son's career. Far from that cartoon, Martos draws a very different picture. «I had never known such a familiar environment, in the good sense of the word. Many would be surprised at how discreet and friendly they are both, ”he concludes. As for the aforementioned criticisms of rivals about the RP20, the final verdict is even more conclusive: “I hope to hear many more.”