Racing Point are considering an appeal against a 15-point penalty and €400,000 fine handed down by the FIA after their rear brake ducts were deemed to be in breach of regulations.

It was announced on Friday that the FIA had upheld a protest from Renault over the RP20, which was lodged in July after the Styrian Grand Prix, where Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll finished sixth and seventh respectively.

Formula One's governing body determined that the rear brake ducts in use by Racing Point were Mercedes designs, contravening the rules.

Team principal Otmar Szafnauer called the judgement "unfair" and said Racing Point were weighing up whether to challenge it or not.

"We are still trying to digest it, we need to ask some questions and get further clarification," Szafnauer told F1.com.

"It's a bit disappointing. We thought we are well within the rules and did absolutely nothing wrong. We invited the FIA in March to come and view everything that we did. We had full disclosure.

"Thereafter, they wrote to us and said we were completely compliant. So that's a bit disappointing. However, we now have to assess the sanction that was given. The FIA have acknowledged the rules of non-listed parts going to listed parts were far from clear and ambiguous and they could be viewed from two different sides.

"They took that into consideration when docking us points for half of the points that we achieved at the Styrian Grand Prix. And we just have to look at that now and decide whether to appeal or just move on.

"The initial thought is that from our perspective, we did nothing wrong, so that's unfair. There's always two perspectives, I guess. The FIA were the arbiters on this. We now have to discuss with the FIA what is going to happen going forward."

Despite the sanction, Racing Point will continue to use the same brake ducts ahead of the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

Nico Hulkenberg has stepped in for Perez again after the Mexican tested positive for COVID-19 and was fourth-fastest in FP1 on Friday.

Valtteri Bottas signed a new Mercedes contract this week and he outpaced team-mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton to top the timesheets in the opening session.