Why did Lawrence Stroll, owner of the Racing Point F1 Team, decide that his team, instead of conceiving a brand new car for the 2020, would instead copy the 2019 Mercedes W10 ?
The reasons are simple to understand and the idea in fact, is brillant, if you know the following things:
-2020 is a transition year before a complete new set of rules is implemented in 2021. It is important that chief engineer Andy Green and his team would be able to concentrate as soon as possible (now) on the 2021 project.
-On top of it, in 2021, a cost cap (a maximum amount of money that a team is allowed to spend in a year) will also be implemented. The priority (for Stroll), is now to spend as much money as possible into a state of the art facility, in new technologies, before it is forbidden (to spend so much).
-So, Racing Point, soon to be named Aston Martin, have started the process of upgrading big time their Silverstone based factory, actually building a brand new facility, just next to the old one. This drains huge resources, both financial and in manpower.
-The Mercedes W10 dominated the 2019 F1 World Championship, is a known quantity, is reliable and (very) fast. Copying it, is a fantastic shortcut for Racing Point, that anyhow uses, the same engine, the same gearbox and spends most of it’s time in Mercedes’ wind tunnel.
-Lawrence Stroll who is a racer and a businessman was quick to come to the conclusion that this was the best and most efficient solution for his team (that is still to be considered as a small team), ensuring Racing Point has a very good year, for relatively small money.
-Toto Wolff, team principal and shareholder of Mercedes F1, another businessman and racer, was easily seduced with the idea. What is in reality a B-Team for Mercedes, would buy whatever is legal to be bought, would copy the 2019 concept and a good cashflow would be generated for the German team, and here you go, a pink Mercedes W10 appeared at Barcelona two weeks ago… and not surprisingly, goes fast and well.
Dear readers, watch out for Sergio Pérez and maybe also for Lance Stroll, because the pink cars might create a surprise or two during the season.
