Face value

It’s what’s under the skin (and behind the scenes) that counts

- Mike Blanchet

On face value, Andrew Green and his design team at Racing Point have done an exceptional job in producing a 2019 Mercedes-like car, a move which has propelled the team to much nearer the front of the F1 grid. However, results haven’t quite met initial expectations.

No matter how intense the scrutiny, their engineers cannot know – just from observation, anyway – such details as the W10’s suspension set-up and diff’ settings, let alone PU and braking energy recovery calibrations. This information is crucial, in wet conditions especially. This might explain the poor performance of the cars in the Styrian GP’s soaking qualifying, in stark contrast to their pace in dry practice.

In any case, having a good car, even a great one, is only going to lead to success in current F1 racing if the operation and preparation of it is virtually flawless, and the drivers able to consistently extract the maximum performance required. The team strategy and race tactics must be absolutely on the ball, too. Plus, of course, being on top of tyre management in all conditions.

All of this perhaps illustrated the BWT-sponsored team’s relatively underwhelming race result at the first weekend at the Red Bull Ring, after such a promising qualifying. However, round two at this great little circuit redeemed matters in part, vital for the big-hitting Racing Point team.

Identical or not?