Red Bull boss Horner defends practice of car "cloning" in F1

Racing Point revealed its new RP20, which draw heavy inspiration from last year's title-winning Mercedes W10, at the start of pre-season testing, while Haas and the newly renamed AlphaTauri team share design trends with Ferrari and Red Bull respectively.

While some teams are not happy at the prospect of rivals copying each other, Horner said anything that helps the smaller outfits to become more competitive is a bonus.

"I think collaborations do make sense," he said.

"Otherwise, how do teams like AlphaTauri and Racing Point, Haas, even Alfa Romeo, [compete] if they couldn't buy suspensions and gearboxes?

"All the R&D that they're going to have to conduct themselves will be big amounts of resource.

"Of course, some teams look like they've gone further in their cloning than others, but as long as it complies with the rules, I don't particularly have a problem with it.

"For Liberty it creates a more competitive grid. For the teams it makes Formula 1 more affordable.

"Of course you don't want 10 cars that all look the same, but I think there's elements to the car that are transferable, like suspension and gearboxes for example, that make a lot of sense."

While there is no suggestion Racing Point has breached the regulations with its design, McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has called for strict policing of team collaborations to check that rules are followed.

"The rules are pretty clear of what is allowed and what is not allowed and of course it's important already now in 2020, that these rules are followed," he said.

• Our analysis of collaborative cars
• Racing Point's gamble on a Mercedes-inspired design
• AlphaTauri's blend of second-hand style/originality
• Will Ferrari-inspired design cure Haas woes?

"There's limitations for each team of what you're allowed to do for example on the CFD side or in terms of windtunnel hours.

"I assume that it's already properly policed now, that not one team for example is doing work, which then gets transferred to another team, because it would clearly not be within the regulations."