SACRE bleu! What is F1 coming to?
Renault’s good performance at Suzuka, where Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth and Nico Hulkenberg 10th, is now in doubt after a protest – about the French team’s steering wheels and electronics – by the rival Racing Point team.
As a result, the FIA governing body has sealed and impounded the electronic control units and steering wheels of both cars “to conduct a detailed analysis of those pieces” and the “hardware, software and data associated with them.”
Racing Point protested against Renault after the Japanese Grand Prix over an alleged “pre-set lap distance-dependent brake bias adjustment system” on its cars.
Meanwhile, Renault has not lost its double-points finish in the Japanese GP, but their results are provisional, pending the outcome of the protest.
This could take some time, and may involve “outside technical assistance” being called in, including Renault and Racing Point team members, while conducting the analysis.
Racing Point has apparently prepared a 12-page dossier of moans about the steering wheels and ECUs, but the French team responded with “Renault F1 Team intends to use this recess to prepare an equally detailed case to rigorously defend its position.”
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