How Racing Point is gambling on a Mercedes-inspired design

Back in 1996, mankind finally broke the boundaries between science fiction and reality. A group of scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland took the nucleus from a sheep's mammary gland cell, transferred it into an egg cell and implanted it into a surrogate mother. And so began the birth of Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal.

Some 24 years later, a group of engineers based at Racing Point's facilities presumably took inspiration from Dolly's manufactured birth. They took the nucleus of Mercedes' 2019 W10 design, transferred it into the team's factory at Silverstone, then implanted it into its own design ethos and development process. Thus began the birth of the new Racing Point RP20.

It's very hard to see the RP20 as anything other than a 'clone' of the car that delivered Lewis Hamilton a sixth world title last year. Even down to the details, the only thing that apparently differentiates the two is the garish pink paint job - that's become even more pink, as water technology specialist BWT has become the title sponsor of the team.

The similarity is most evident in the front wing concept, which picks up Mercedes' late-season design and builds on it. Although the footplate has been changed very slightly, featuring a smaller tunnel to build a tighter vortex, it also directly copies the W10's fin at the trailing edge which directs a little more airflow outboard. Even the endplate is the same shape as that seen on last year's Mercedes, leading into a distinctly familiar front wing.

Towards the end of last season, Mercedes had pinched up the outboard ends, while earlier on in the year the team had shortened the top flap to allow for the added split in the next element down - as only five-element 'cross-sections' are permitted by the rules. By creating that, the aerodynamicists can introduce a little more control into the inboard vortex produced at the tips earlier on. Racing Point has obviously been very inspired by that design choice, although the wingtips do have a marginally different curvature applied to them.

The nose, too, has enjoyed a distinctly Mercedes-esque treatment. Although the tapered transition to the bulkhead has become a trend in 2020, Racing Point bears strong hallmarks to its engine supplier's nose and the smoothed-out tip is also included to ease the transition to the cape. Further up, the winglets surrounding the S-duct are also added to the mix, which makes use of a small zone intended for the nose-to-chassis transition to divert airflow outwards.

Further details perhaps inspired by the W10 include the deflectors down the flanks of the car, which pick up the airflow emanating from the suspension components and divert it down to the bargeboards. The front suspension upright mountings are also incredibly similar, employing the horn section to raise the top wishbone.

Creating a similar design will give the team new development avenues to explore, but the overall understanding of the concept won't be as great for the engineers compared to one they've conceived themselves

There is, unmistakably, a recurring theme here. And that theme continues into the bargeboard design, which even employs the shortened double-boomerang design developed by Mercedes last year. Racing Point has looked also at the late-season turning vanes added into the mix by the Silver Arrows in Japan, although it has only managed to carry over four of the horizontal slats as opposed to Mercedes' six.

The sidepod inlets are also drawn from last year's W10 and, although Mercedes has changed tack to include the letterbox apertures by lowering the crash structure, Racing Point has gone the other way to complete its W10 facsimile. Those sidepods have similar bodywork lines to direct the airflow down to the floor, which has the same fins in the same positions as last year's Mercedes. Added to the slots along the floor's sides, these fins can drive airflow outwards to keep the diffuser relatively protected.

Even the rollhoop is slightly slanted forward like Mercedes, although Racing Point has a slight difference and employs a squarer inlet. The rest of the engine cover is largely similar, even down to the raised lump in the bodywork to give the power unit's components a smidgen of clearance.

The rear wing features a very slightly raised leading edge on the centre of the mainplane, presumably to boost the downforce produced by adding extra camber to the equation. Racing Point has strayed away from the W10 mood board and continued with its own DRS actuator housing, but has elected to draw inspiration from the endplate design used by the Brackley team last year.

Mercedes introduced its own version at Hockenheim last year, and Racing Point has followed suit, even down to the vortex generators and the cut-outs at the trailing edge to manage the trailing vortices developing from the car. The T-wing at the back of the engine cover is also very siilar

Although mimicry in F1 is nothing new - cast your mind back to the early 1970s, where all and sundry copied the Lotus 72 - it's certainly interesting to see Racing Point draw such heavy inspiration the Mercedes package from last season, down to the finest details. And sure, creating a similar will give the team new development avenues to explore, but a complete change in concept will take time to understand.

If it kicks Racing Point up the grid and actually provides a threat to the established top teams on a more regular basis, then it'll look like an incredibly shrewd move by the team in pink. If it's quick, Sergio Perez will offer guaranteed results and return to his supporting role in occasionally sniping for podiums. Lance Stroll, meanwhile, can perform if he learns to qualify.

With the last season of this current ruleset, technical chief Andy Green admits that leaning on a Mercedes-inspired design is a bit of a risk, but if it doesn't pay off then the team can just dip into the 2021 ruleset earlier on.

"The inspiration is from the quickest car from last year," Green said. "That's where our inspiration came from. It's - why wouldn't we? We're in a position where we're using their [2019] gearbox, we've got the same power unit, and the gearbox is designed for suspension to go with a certain aerodynamic philosophy. We had a car that was running around seventh in the championship.

"And we've got one more year of these regulations, and the development that we were seeing with the high rake car to me just wasn't going to deliver, and it was worth taking a risk - and it is a big risk. We tore up what we did before, fresh piece of paper, where are we going to start? Well, you aren't going to start looking at the slowest car on the grid are you? You're going to start looking at the fastest car, and that's where we started.

"If it works, it works. If it doesn't, we've lost one year, but I don't think we would have lost anything relative to not doing it. The downside of not doing it was much greater."

And if the team can get its head around a design heavily inspired by the Mercedes W10, there'll be one question on everyone's lips: why didn't everyone else just do the same thing?