Paris (AFP)
"Surprises", "shocked", "annoyed" ... The Formula 1 teams plan to retaliate after the announcement of a blurred agreement between the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and Ferrari following an analysis the functioning of the Scuderia engine, on which doubts weighed last year.
The FIA, which enacts and enforces the rules of the world championship, announced Friday "that after thorough technical investigations, it has concluded its analysis of the operation of the power unit of the Scuderia Ferrari of Formula 1 and has managed to an agreement with the team ", the details of which will remain confidential".
In the middle of this press release, the International Federation clarified that "the FIA and Scuderia Ferrari have made a number of technical commitments which will improve monitoring of all powertrains in Formula 1 throughout the seasons. come and help the FIA in its other regulatory tasks in Formula 1 and in its research activities on carbon emissions and biofuels. "
Asked by AFP Friday, Ferrari had not given more details on the nature or the reasons of this agreement.
However, he intervenes when several teams expressed suspicions in the second half of last season about the conformity of the powertrain used by the Scuderia, after a jump in speed in a straight line particularly visible in qualifying after the summer break.
Red Bull had thus asked before the Mexican Grand Prix for a clarification from the FIA on the measurement of fuel flow, limited by the regulations, by targeting Ferrari by name in the media.
After the publication of a technical directive on this point, the advantage of Scuderia had faded in the last three races of the season. Subsequently, the governing body of F1 required the installation of a second flow meter in the engine of single-seaters in 2020.
The Italian team also had to pay a 50,000 euro fine at the end of the last GP in Abu Dhabi, the volume of fuel in the Monaco Leclerc single-seater Charles Leclerc before the race not corresponding to that it had announced.
- Opacity -
Contacted by AFP, the opponents of Ferrari take care for the moment to comment openly on this situation but several express on condition of anonymity their "surprise", their "shock", their "disappointment" or even their "anger".
They say they were not informed of this investigation or its conclusions before the official communication of the FIA and deplore its "opacity", both in terms of content and timing, ten minutes from the end of the preseason tests on the Barcelona circuit.
For these teams, who are currently discussing the response to be given, jointly or separately, this announcement poses several questions.
The first concerns the legality or not of the Ferrari engine last year. The FIA press release does not answer this question and "therefore lets suspect that it is not legal", is pointed out. "It can't stay as it is," urges a team. "Otherwise it means that there was a problem".
The confidentiality of the agreement questions other actors. "The question of whether Ferrari cheated is almost secondary compared to the problem of transparency that this poses", regrets a stable.
This is "out of step with today's world and the demands for transparency in the governance of society and sport, to which the FIA subscribes in its statutes," said another.
Solicited by AFP Monday, the governing body of F1 ensures to be "open to requests from the teams while respecting the confidentiality and legality of the agreements".
© 2020 AFP