Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul says the current pause on racing doesn’t mean it is willing to look past Racing Point’s contentious 2020 car, believing it to have wid𝓀er implications for the incoming budget cap.

Racing Point raised eyebrows with the launch of its RP20 at the start of the year, which f🐓rom the outset bears all the hallmarks of last year’s title-winning Mercede✱s W10.

Though Racing Point insists the design purely based on its own interpretation ꦉof the Mercedes design because it uses a number of its components already, rival teams were quick to argue that it was against the spirit of the regulations for what it means to bꦜe a constructor.

The debate is set to be brought into further focus through the introduction of a budget cap with Renault’s Abiteboul a🏅rg♈uing such data sharing will be hard to monitor under the current parameters.

ඣ“The meetings have been focused on short term survival and medium and long term sustainability of the spo✨rt, which is exactly what needs to happen,” he told . “It’s important we side-line the most contentious topics we had over the winter. I’m sure these topics will come back as they are directly connected to the business model of F1.”

It’s all good and nice to agree on the budget cap level but if you can pool your resources, poo꧋l your research and development between the teams, it means the levels of budget cap we are talking about are not exactly the ones we are talking about so to a cert𝕴ain degree we’re talking about that.

"We’re not talking directly about the Racing Point case, we’re talking about what it means to be a constructor and what is a business case of being a constructor, th♉at we are talking about and that is an inte൩resting point.

Renault as a constructor and engine supplier stands to lose most if F1 shifts to a more customer-based m꧋odel given it is currently mired in the mid-field against the teams that stand to benefit, even if it hopes to take a big step for🎃ward closer to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull when the season does get underway.

With Racing Point – together with Renault-engine custom🧸er McLaren – arguably Renault’s biggest rivals for at least fourth in the standinꦡgs, Abiteboul is calling for more clarity of what is or isn’t permitted.

“We will be thinking and talking about Racing Point legality later. By saying that,🐓 I’m not putting any threat, I’m just saying that we need to think about a bit more str🐻ategically in the current circumstance.”