Racing Point lodges protest against Renault at Suzuka

Racing Point has lodged a protest against both of Renault's cars following Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

Racing Point has issued the protest to the Formula 1 race stewards in Japan over the "pre-set lap distance-dependent brake bias adjustment system" on both Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg's Renault's cars, which were classified in sixth and 10th place respectively at Suzuka.

Renault was able to recover from a difficult qualifying session that saw Hulkenberg and Ricciardo qualify 15th and 16th respectively to secure a strong double-points finish, with Ricciardo rising from seventh to sixth after a post-race penalty was applied to Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

However, the race result is now provisional following the protest issued by Racing Point, who would be set to gain points were both Ricciardo and Hulkenberg to be thrown out of the final classification.

Sergio Perez finished ninth for Racing Point, benefitting from a system glitch that resulted in the chequered flag being shown on the electronic board one lap earlier after crashing on the final lap in a clash with Pierre Gasly. Teammate Lance Stroll took 11th, having risen to P10 prior to the race result being backdated.

FIA race director Michael Masi declined to comment when asked about the protest in his post-race briefing.

The protest from Racing Point covers the sporting and technical regulations used in F1, as well as the FIA's International Sporting Code, with an automatic brake bias system being outlawed under the regulations.

An FIA spokesman confirmed on Sunday evening that no decision would be taken today, but that the protest from Racing Point was admissible.

The FIA's technical department will investigate the matter, and has until Wednesday to decide on referring the matter to the stewards.