Suddenly there was a settlement between the FIA and Ferrari. Nobody was allowed to know exactly what had been decided, but it was clear that Ferrari had done something illegal in the middle of the 2019 season. This met with a lot of resistance and criticism from the competition. The FIA is now taking an extra measure to detect such foul play sooner.
The regulations are very strict. For example, the regulations stipulate that the fuel supply must at all times remain below 101 litres per hour at 10500 rpm. Ferrari was suspected of violating this rule. After the GP of Brazil in 2019, the fuel systems of Honda and Alpha Romeo were also examined.
Recently, a second sensor is also mandatory for all teams, according to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com. The sensor measures and monitors the precise supply of fuel. The sensor is from the same brand as the first one, namely Sentronic. The big difference is that the new sensor is encrypted and therefore only Sentronic itself and the FIA have insight in the measurement data.
50 extra horsepower for Ferrari
The new sensor is also better because it operates at a higher speed and is better able to identify peaks that exceed the limit. It is especially important that the sensor is encrypted because Ferrari had thought of something clever last year.
The Scuderia worked around the encryption of the first sensor with its own software. Because of this the Scuderia generated 50 bhp extra. The fact that the FIA now comes with a second and better sensor shows that Ferrari has operated around the rules. In 2020 that will not be so easy anymore.