Each week we will preview a different F1 team and their outlook for the 2020 season. This week we'll start with our projected 6th place team, Racing Point, and go down all the way to our projected No. 1 team. To check out our previews of the projected 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th place teams, click on the links below.
10th place: Rokit Williams
9th place: Haas
8th Place: Alfa Romeo
7th place: AlphaTauri
Overview: Racing Point had a quick fall back in 2018 when the man who owned F1’s only India-based team, Vijay Mallya, was arrested for fraud after his Kingfisher Airlines went bankrupt. At that point in mid-season, there was speculation that Racing Point would not last. Insert: Lawrence Stroll. Stroll was and still is a millionaire who had been heavily sponsoring last-place team Williams up until that point. Seeing the potential at Racing Point, he switched his allegiance and instead put his money into Racing Point. That, in fact, saved the team, but also meant Stroll could call the shots. One of those “shots” was bringing his 19 year old son, Lance, from Williams to drive for Racing Point. Stroll is still with the team, along with veteran Sergio Perez.
Heading into 2020, it seems they might be F1’s most inconsistent team, with the potential to perform at a high level, but question marks as to how it will look on the track and if the car will be able to compete at the level necessary to stay with the middle of the pack and fight for points.
Drivers: Sergio “Checo” Perez (Mexico) and Lance Stroll (Canada)
Perez is one of the"rags to riches" stories in F1, a guy who had the talent but not the money to last in racing. Thanks to a few sponsors, he made his way up to F1 in 2011, becoming just the fifth Mexican to compete in the racing circuit. He has posted solid results and a total of eight podiums during his nine years, with his best seasons coming in 2016 and 2017 when he scored 100+ points. In addition, the fact that he does not retire often (meaning drop out of a race), is an added plus to keeping him with Racing Point for the rest of his career.
Stroll does not have the same amount of experience, having only raced five years total, just two of those outside F1 in Formula 3. His first season with Racing Point last year saw him finish 15th in the drivers’ standings, and qualified higher than Perez in just three of the 21 races in 2019. However, he, like Esteban Ocon and Llando Norris is one of the rising talents in the sport.
In Preseason testing…
Racing Point impressed during preseason testing in Barcelona, with an extremely aerodynamic car that has improved since last season. It is a near replica of 2019 Constructor’s Champion Mercedes’ car, and has the potential to hang with the top dogs of F1. In years past, the team had used a Mercedes gearbox and power unit, but had never changed the frame of the car. Following a 7th place finish in 2019, Racing Point obviously went to the drawing board to improve the car for 2020.
The past:
Most of Racing Point’s complicated history was played out under the name, “Force India” who was started and owned by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya. For 11 years from 2007 to 2018, “Force India” was a force to be reckoned with, finishing as the “best of the rest” in fourth place for both the 2016 and 2017 seasons. As stated in the overview, Mallya was arrested for fraud in 2018 and to this day is being demanded to return to India or face extradition from his current residence in the UK. Thanks to Lawrence Stroll, the team was saved. Ups and downs have been a big part of Racing Point, such as going from being the fourth-best team in 2017, to a team put under the control of administration just a year later.
The future:
With Stroll owning the team, Lance will be in the driver’s seat for the foreseeable future. Perez doesn’t appear to be going anywhere either. That kind of constituency along with a car that seems to be improved in some way or another each year should be reason enough for Racing Point to finally make a push to top the two straight seventh place finishes the team has experienced in past seasons. In addition, it has been recently announced that the team will be rebranded to Aston Martin for the 2021 season.
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