It was bound to happen, and today it did.

Last week's mysterious statement from the FIA following its investigation into the legality of Ferrari's 2019 engine raised more questions than it answered.

The very carefully worded statement mentioned a "settlement" and an "agreement" of which the specifics would not be made public.

Amidst talk of anger within the teams to the statement which has given rise to speculation that the Italian team had indeed been caught cheating but has basically got away with it, without explanation and without punishment, this morning seven teams issued a joint statement.

It reads:

"We, the undersigned teams, were surprised and shocked by the FIA’s statement of Friday 28 February regarding the conclusion of its investigation into the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 Power Unit.

An international sporting regulator has the responsibility to act with the highest standards of governance, integrity and transparency.

After months of investigations that were undertaken by the FIA only following queries raised by other teams, we strongly object to the FIA reaching a confidential settlement agreement with Ferrari to conclude this matter.

Therefore, we hereby state publicly our shared commitment to pursue full and proper disclosure in this matter, to ensure that our sport treats all competitors fairly and equally. We do so on behalf of the fans, the participants and the stakeholders of Formula One.

In addition, we reserve our rights to seek legal redress, within the FIA’s due process and before the competent courts."

The statement is signed by:

McLaren Racing Limited
Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited
Racing Point UK Limited
Red Bull Racing Limited
Renault Sport Racing Limited
Scuderia Alpha Tauri S.p.A.
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited

The FIA has handled this matter shamefully. Last year, as the first of the technical directives was issued, the performance of the Ferrari fell off alarmingly, and when Max Verstappen accused the Italian team of "cheating", there were few voices of dissent.

Rather than address the situation, the FIA - which to many has always been known as Ferrari International Assistance - appears to have enabled Ferrari and at the same time virtually forced its rivals into the situation we have today.

While Mattia Binotto has always protested Ferrari's innocence, this was the FIA's opportunity to prove it.

That it didn't, certainly not to the satisfaction of rival teams and manufacturers - not to mention the fans - speaks volumes, while the total lack of transparency and laughable talk of "agreement" and "settlementW added insult to injury.

And to think Chase and the gang thought they only had the coronavirus to worry about...

(Much, much) more to follow.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Tardis40, 05/03/2020 12:55

"Dry your tears.

I don't really understand why there needs to be a "fuel flow" limit. Aren't the cars limited to X amount of fuel per race? Why should anyone care how quickly they use it. If they use it to quickly and run out of fuel they are out of the race, aren't they?

The sport has become way to complicated. It should simplify the rule book and get back to what once made it great."

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2. Posted by Wokingchap, 05/03/2020 11:25

"Ferrari ARE cheating Bstards and always have been. They deserve a heavy penalty imo."

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3. Posted by Max Noble, 05/03/2020 0:37

"@Motorsport-Fan : sadly nothing clear... my guess is that like the push-pull steering on the 2020 Mercedes, Ferrari had found an advantage that was not against the prescriptive letter of the law... but was clearly a leap around the intent, and not “in the spirit”. Why else the change in how fuel flow is now going to be monitored...? "

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4. Posted by BillH, 04/03/2020 16:14

"What I find strange is that FIA actually released any statement in the first place. If they had remained silent then perhaps things would have blown over, and this would have been sorted "behind closed doors".
Now the FIA are in a trickier situation than normal as they will be compelled to open this up perhaps have to deal to Ferrari and also discipline people in their own organisation.
It all looks bad, possibly worse than it already was.
I guess it goes back to "the cover up is worse than the crime"."

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5. Posted by Mambo, 04/03/2020 15:16

"One sometime wonders if the FIA – and Ferrari – is simply above the law."

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6. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 04/03/2020 13:19

"Oil burn, fuel sensor bypass, perhaps just all a smokescreen and they simply ran a 1.8 ice, do you have any inside knowledge @ Max Noble."

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7. Posted by Elf Team Tyrrell, 04/03/2020 13:03

"@ Max Noble......they aren’t real sports like F1 is so they don’t count :-). "

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8. Posted by imejl99, 04/03/2020 12:32

"Agreement, settlement, statement, joint statement... sounds a lot like a politics, and I can understand it.
2 teams who didn`t signed this joint statement are likely held hostages by the situation. Assuming Ferrari engine was illegal, strip points on all cars powered by it? Recalculate prize money? Fine them? Or just engine supplier? Lots of issues... Any kind of sanction could mean last straw on Haas F1 involvement. So, I can understand the politics.
Ferrari being absolved of responsibility, that is harder to accept."

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9. Posted by Max Noble, 04/03/2020 12:21

"Post script... don’t get me started on the Olympic Committee and FIFA...."

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10. Posted by Max Noble, 04/03/2020 12:19

"I look forward to UK chaps discussing Mo Farah’s current situation. Lance, Tommy Simpson, Ben Johnson, ah so many people that never cheated. They all looked at the rules side on and took a liberal stance. "

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11. Posted by Elf Team Tyrrell, 04/03/2020 12:00

"Of course that raises another area of Ferrari hypocrisy, how the hell can Jean Todt run the FIA but Ferrari veto Toto Wolff for a Liberty job. Double standards by Ferrari yet again. I for one would be glad to see the back of them in F1. "

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12. Posted by klmn, 04/03/2020 11:56

"Enzo was already a big cheater oh and we must not forget uncle Ken Tyrrell who cheated too with the lead shot in the water tanks LOL"

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13. Posted by Stitch431, 04/03/2020 11:27

"As I wrote already this morning, in absence of an article on this subject, under an article of last week:

"I just read an article that states that the secret deal was that the Ferrari has been forced to build an entirely new engine for this year as there were some "grey areas" in the one from last year. The fact alone, that they (Ferrari) had to build a new engine clearly means that it can't be a gray area. Ferrari would really not build a new engine if there was no proof, black on white, that the engine is not in accordance with the rules. Any other team would be severely punished. Ferrari is told that they have to build a new engine, but instead of being stripped of their clearly illegally gained points, poles and race wins (remember MacLaren's punishment?), they hacked out a deal with the FIA that they will get insight of the technical data from their competitor's engines, to see if they maybe do something that is not according to the rules too! Thus gaining an unprecedented advantage over all the others. They are being rewarded instead of punished. Scandalous!!! Chase Carey, if you let this happen, it will be the total loss of investment of Liberty Media."

I was already wondering why the other teams were letting them off the hook so easily.
Time for the Todt family to take their hats!! CLEAN SWEEP THE FIA OF FERRARI MEMBERS
"

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14. Posted by Max Noble, 04/03/2020 11:23

""First you get good. Then you get rich. Then you get honest. Always in that order." - B. Ecclestone."

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15. Posted by Elf Team Tyrrell, 04/03/2020 10:57

"Ferrari have been persistent cheaters -allegedly- for many many years and more often than not backed or supported by the FIA - hence the nickname Ferrari International Assistance. Well done to the other teams for raising this issue. "

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Seven teams voice their shock at FIA agreement with Ferrari

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