Why F1 teams are not happy with FIA action on Ferrari

On Tuesday morning, all teams that do not use a Ferrari engine came out with a statement of their dissatisfaction with the actions of the FIA in their investigation into the legality of the Ferrari of last year. Below is a brief summary of the events and why that led to this indictment of the other teams.

This story began in the autumn of 2019, when Ferrari was suspected of tampering with the fuel supply by some of its competitors. Ferrari would have manipulated the sensors that control the maximum speed at which fuel enters the engine so that at times they could exceed the maximum allowed.

Mercedes and Red Bull Racing do not protest

Mercedes and Red Bull Racing were about to make a protest, but eventually chose to ask the FIA if they could use such a system as well. That was absolutely not allowed and so the possible illegal practices at Ferrari were unofficially declared illegal.

In order to find out what Ferrari was actually doing, the FIA already confiscated engine parts from Ferrari for inspection after the Brazilian Grand Prix in November. This investigation continued during the winter break and out of the sight of the media, so the results were announced last Friday.

The same questions remain

At least, it was really only the outcome of that research that was made public. "The FIA announces that, after a thorough technical investigation of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 power unit, it has reached a settlement with the team. The details of the agreement remain between the parties", read the statement of the FIA.

What exactly was going on with the Ferrari engine is therefore still an open secret. You have to assume that the FIA is acting in good conscience and would have brought it out if they had found something demonstrably illegal. That they do not do so seems to indicate that they do not have enough evidence to defend their decision before a court. Because of this they are still walking around in the Formula 1 paddock with the same questions as a couple of months ago.

Teams want clarity and fair treatment from the FIA

That's why the Formula 1 teams are now asking for clarification. Not only do they want to know what the actual outcome of the FIA investigation is, so that they are fully aware of compliance with the regulations on a technical level, but they also want to know why they do not make those results public.

In other investigations into a violation of the technical regulations, this was done. Last season in the case of Renault. That team would use a system in which the brake balance was automatically adjusted. This is forbidden and the team was disqualified for the Grand Prix of Japan. Both the technical offence and the penalty were on the streets. The fact that the FIA is now reaching a settlement with Ferrari therefore shoots many people in the wrong throat.

This article was written by Pelle Gerritsen and originated on GPBlog.com/nl