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F1 | GIAN CARLO MINARDI “CLONES DISTORT FORMULA 1. FERRARI AND RED BULL MIGHT HAVE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE RP20”

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The surprise of the first three days of tests at Montmelò, together with Mercedes’ Dual Axis Steering, was surely Racing Point. Both Stroll and Perez set incredible times placing themselves just behind the two Mercedes drivers.

Right from the first photos the incredible resemblance with the world championship Mercedes stood out. There is the strong feeling that Lawrence Stroll’s team, in addition to mounting Brixworth’s power unit and gearbox and using Brackley’s wind tunnel, had taken other aerodynamic solutions already present on the W10, such as the nose cone for example.

“Clones are a problem for Formula 1 since they distort the concept of constructor. Ferrari and Red Bull had already opened the way with the “collaboration” respectively with Haas, nicknamed the “Ferrarina, small Ferrari”, and Toro Rosso, but in the specific case of Mercedes took a decisive step forward by giving Racing Point the world championship car,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi.

“Perez’s and Stroll’s times confirm the generosity of the W10 project, as well as an as yet unexpressed potential. If the times are confirmed in Melbourne Ferrari and Red Bull will pay the consequences. True constructors could find themselves having to fight with a clone, or a client car as they want to call it,” continued the manager from Faenza.

“It is absolutely a road that must not be taken. The step from constructor to assembler is very short,” concluded Minardi.

Wednesday February 26 the Formula 1 teams will return to Barcelona for the last three days of tests before leaving for Australia which will host the first grand prix of the 2020 season (March 15).

MINARDI “DAS IS A DECOY. I WILL EXPLAIN WHY”

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The 2020 Formula 1 season started officially with the first three days of tests at Montmelò. Even if it is hard to guess the forces at play there was no lack of surprises and twists.

In particular the three days put into the spotlight two issues, one positive and spectacular – the Mercedes labelled Dual Axis Steering – and one negative dictated by clones that I want to deal with later.

Despite being at the end of a cycle – from 2021 the technical regulations will be turned upside down – Mercedes amazed everyone with a new development that had never been seen before in Motorsport, the innovated steering system named DAS that is already present in some high end production cars. This was unlike what we had been used to with production car technology passed on to Motorsport and not vice versa. This lets us understand how far Mercedes is technologically and I am sorry that BMW did not decide to enter the Circus because it would have the skill to oppose the domination.

Despite being at the end of a cycle – from 2021 the technical regulations will be turned upside down – Mercedes amazed everyone with a new development that had never been seen before in Motorsport, the innovated steering system named DAS that is already present in some high end production cars. This was unlike what we had been used to with production car technology passed on to Motorsport and not vice versa. This lets us understand how far Mercedes is technologically and I am sorry that BMW did not decide to enter the Circus because it would have the skill to oppose the domination.

This is a project that requires a development time of about 7-8 months and carried out in parallel with FIA which has already declared it legal but at the same time bans it from 2021. Once again the International Federation has shown all the limits to its administration and approval of the regulations. Such behaviour puts the credibility of Formula 1 into serious question. I do not want to believe that they will use the excuse of a matter of safety. Otherwise everything in F1 would become dangerous.

I will stop here for now but in the next few days I will talk to you about the matter of “clones”.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Foto © Copyright: Batchelor / XPB Images