RP20 the “best” F1 car Racing Point has ever produced

Otmar Szafnauer reckons Racing Point’s car for the upcoming 2020 Formula 1 season is the “best” the team has ever produced.

The Silverstone-based outfit caused a stir when it debuted its RP20 challenger at pre-season testing in Barcelona due to its close resemblance with Mercedes’ 2019 title-winning W10 design.

Racing Point showed flashes of promising pace throughout winter testing, leading to Sergio Perez hailing its 2020 contender as the best he has ever driven. 

Talking about Racing Point’s latest car on the F1 Nation podcast, Szafnauer said: “I think this is the most competitive [car]. We’ve taken a decent step forward.

“There have been other times where we looked really, really competitive. I remember, I think it was Adrian Sutil overtaking Michael Schumacher in a Mercedes going up the hill at Spa and there are races where we’ve [been] really, really quick – and [we] nearly won one at Spa.

“As a general package, out of Barcelona, which is usually a good indicator of how well your aerodynamic team has done, this is probably the best that I have seen our aerodynamic team has produced, and the best we’ve been at Barcelona anyway.”

And Szafnauer is confident that Racing Point will be able to carry its pre-season testing form into the start of the revised 2020 season, which begins in Austria on July 5.

“I think some of the competitiveness that we saw in the winter should [carry over] to the Red Bull Ring, number one,” he explained.

“And number two, we’ve had a long time off now and I don’t think anyone’s had enough time to get back to work, develop the car and get new bits onto their car. We certainly haven’t.

“But my expectation is, the competitiveness that we saw in the winter should also be available to us and become evident in Austria.”

Racing Point will shake down its 2020 car later this week at Silverstone, with Lance Stroll expected to get behind the wheel.