With recent news that teams have piled onto Renault's claims of foul play by Racing Point, it seems the FIA will be under increased pressure to launch a confirming decision. Hmmm.
In recent months, we've seen protests against Ferrari, Mercedes, and Racing Point. Ironically, that only leaves McLaren, and Red Bull as top teams who weren't targeted. In all fairness, its no surprise that no one filed one against Claire Williams and her team. (Well, at least last year) It begs the question though: are protests being used fairly in F1?
Let's look at the three most recent. Firstly, with Ferrari. This one is the most cut and dry. This is an example of teams seeing an issue outside of FIA's own watch, and reporting it. Obviously, given the pace gap between this year and last, its unreasonable to suggest Ferrari (and by proxy Haas and Alfa) didn't gain unfair constructor's championship places. What it does reveal, is how broken the system is for protesting.
Look now to Racing Point's 2020 challenge. Teams are alleging unfair collaboration. They say RP's 2020 car is too Merc-like. Too close to last year's. But, this is a car the FIA has had access to since day 1. Since the car's launch way back in February, the memes were already flying about the car's similarities. Someone had to notice. The FIA didn't act. Instead of investigating prematurely, they sat back for papers to be filed by a rival team.
And it's no coincidence Renault were the first to do it.
The question is then: why doesn't the FIA have an independent review process? It's not like F1 is F3, or some strapped feeder series, this is the world's preeminent showing of FIA-backed racing.
When the FIA doesn't investigate, it puts the priority on teams to protest everything and everything. That's not good.
1: You get cases like Ferrari, where teams with enough resources to hide their flaws do so, and capture millions unfairly from other teams
2: There are incentives for teams to protest everything and anything. If the RP is deemed unfit in August, what are they to do about it? Do they halt all progression on next year's car? Why should they be punished for an FIA oversight?
This leads us to our third case: Mercedes. Once teams protest, the FIA is under pressure to say no to innovation. This is not new. 2009 saw Brawn face the same. The issue os, this kills innovation in the sport, because teams eliminate any off-springing development they feel is too quick. Fans want to see close racing, and as a result the FIA ticks off another great idea to protect their pocketbooks. Can you imagine if road cars could shift toe to save you MPG on the highway?
No matter the team, or the filer, FIA's protest system is broken. F1 needs preemptive measures to catch teams early, so they both can't get away with cheating, but also won't be penalized unfairly for pushing the rules (as all teams do).
What do you think the FIA should change about protesting? Is the system okay as is? Leave a comment below explaining your thoughts!
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