Haas: Racing Point have gone full circle with ‘B-spec’ complaints

Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner believes Racing Point has now come “full circle” after previously complaining about his side’s model of sourcing car parts form another team.

Racing Point’s new RP20 raised eyebrows when it broke cover for the first time on the opening day of pre-season testing at Barcelona on Wednesday, with its 2020 challenger closely resembling last year’s Mercedes.

The Silverstone-based squad was among the teams which raised concerns over Haas’ controversial exploitation of the regulations through obtaining some parts from Ferrari when it entered F1 in 2016, an approach Racing Point now appears to have adopted.

Asked about his thoughts on Racing Point’s new car looking like a Mercedes, Steiner replied: “What is wrong with that?

“The regulations are quite clear, and you don’t exchange CAD data, I would put it like this, they use a lot of Mercedes parts on their car, so why would they go on copy Red Bull?

“It is the same with us. We buy a lot of parts from Ferrari, so which car we going to copy? I guess a Ferrari.

“If we were to copy a Toro Rosso or a Red Bull, we would be pretty stupid because we tried to invent something that isn’t there.

“I think they are just doing what we are doing, just trying to get the best out of it, and use that model.

“Sometimes you have to think before you talk,” he added.

“I would say that one because maybe one day it is your turn and then you cannot go against it because we all know they complain quite heavily a few years ago. And now it is going full-circle.”

Despite the approach, Steiner remains cautious about whether the midfield teams will be able to close the gap to the leading trio of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull this season.

“I’m cautious to predict that, it would be nice, there is a chance of it, but it is always difficult to predict because the top teams with their resources can do so much more,” he explained.

“Even if you think that stability should close the gap, in theory that is logic, but with their resources they should be ahead.

“But maybe they start earlier to work on the 21 car, so then it closes up a little bit if some of the teams keep working on the 20 car. In theory yes but in practicality we have to see if that is happening.”