Racing Point refutes criticism: "We're not like Haas."

Especially McLaren and Renault almost immediately had criticism. Racing Point's car looked so much like the Mercedes that people wondered if the team designed the car themselves. The resemblance is undeniable, not even by Racing Point itself, but according to team boss Otmar Szafnauer it is indeed their own creation.

“We’re at 465 [staff ] and we’re going to go to 500 in the next year and a half,” says team principal Otmar Szafnauer. “We’re growing. That’s really not like a Haas model.”, he says in conversation with GP Racing, immediately referring to a competitor who does buy ready-made parts from one of the factory teams.

Red Bull philosophy has given way to Mercedes

Szafnauer does admit that his team was inspired by the fastest car of the moment with the new design. The fact that Racing Point works closely with Mercedes and uses their power source and gearbox is a handy bonus. But in essence, their philosophy is no different than before, when they copied the 'high rake' concept of Red Bull Racing.

“Although everyone says, ‘Ah, you copied a Mercedes,’ it’s our own [car],” says Szafnauer. “It’s our own design. It’s our own development. It’s our own wind tunnel model. It’s our own concept. Yeah, we looked to see what’s fast and thought, ‘That’s fast, can we do the same?’ It’s no different than we did with Red Bull, when we ran a high-rake concept.”