Racing Point to shake down 2020 F1 car at Silverstone next week

Racing Point will shake down its 2020 Formula 1 car next week at Silverstone for a filming day ahead of the start of the new season.

The Silverstone-based outfit is the first to run its current-spec machinery before the heavily-delayed 2020 campaign restarts in Austria on July 5, after the opening 10 races were called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mercedes conducted a two-day test at Silverstone this week but opted to run its two-year-old W09 model because of F1’s heavily restricted regulations surrounding testing of current machinery.

Teams are permitted to complete two promotional days of running with their current cars throughout the year but are limited to a maximum mileage of 100kms per day and have to run on a set of Pirelli’s demo tyres.

While Mercedes and Ferrari will each complete unlimited mileage runs in older cars, Racing Point has decided to rack up some laps on its 2020 RP20 by undertaking its second and final permitted filming day, having already used up one of its promotional days in Barcelona in February ahead of pre-season testing.

The test will take place on Wednesday 17 June at the British Grand Prix venue, with Lance Stroll expected to drive the RP20 - which turned heads in pre-season testing due to its resemblance to last year’s championship-winning Mercedes - around Silverstone’s shorter National Circuit layout.

It comes as teams and drivers are beginning to step up their preparations for the resumption of racing after factories reopened last week following a mandatory shutdown period amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

Lando Norris completed a private test day at Silverstone last week driving a Euroformula Open-spec Formula 3 car with Carlin, while the likes of Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen have been karting to shake off any rustiness before the season starts.