Perez could miss out on Russia upgrades after Stroll’s F1 crash

The Racing Point Formula 1 team admits it has its work cut out to ensure that it can run its new upgrade on both cars in Russia after Lance Stroll’s heavy Tuscan Grand Prix crash.

Stroll was the only driver to run the Racing Point’s latest upgrade package at Mugello, with Perez scheduled to get the extensive parts – which include revised sidepods, floor, front wing, engine cover and brake ducts – on his RP20 for the Russian Grand Prix.

Racing Point only had enough spares to run one car with its first major upgrade of the 2020 season at Mugello but the heavy damage sustained in Stroll’s high-speed crash during the race might force the Silverstone outfit to shelve its original plan.

A lot of the new parts were destroyed in the impact at the Arrabbiatas, a sweeping flat-out section of the Tuscan circuit.

With a lack of spares available, Racing Point is in a race against time to produce more of the upgrade parts if it is to run them on both cars in Sochi, with team principal Otmar Szafnauer admitting Racing Point is facing a dilemma.

"He [Stroll] did have the upgrade so now we'll have to do a lot of work to get enough parts together for both of them to have the upgrade in Russia,” Szafnauer told Sky Sports F1.

Stroll took precedence for the upgrade due to being ahead of Perez, who is being replaced at the team by Sebastian Vettel when it rebrands to Aston Martin next year, in the championship.

While Perez was able to outpace Stroll’s upgraded RP20 in qualifying, the Canadian demonstrated strong pace that saw him contend for a spot on the podium before his race-ending crash.

Racing Point is in the middle of a battle to secure third place in the constructors’ championship and currently holds fourth, 14 points behind McLaren.

It was hoped the upgrade could help the team make a significant step forward in performance in its bid to wrestle back third from McLaren and Szafnauer was confident the package was faster.

"It is hard to know [exactly the laptime difference]," he explained. "However, our upgrade was meant to be a couple or three tenths, and that is exactly what the performance difference was."