28/02/2020
NEWS STORY
At a time Racing Point is raising eyebrows in the F1 paddock over the legality of its car, a curious statement from the FIA in relation to Ferrari is sure to spark further controversy.
"The FIA announces that, after thorough technical investigations, it has concluded its analysis of the operation of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 Power Unit and reached a settlement with the team," said the sport's governing body in a statement issued in the final moments of pre-season testing.
"The specifics of the agreement will remain between the parties," it added.
"The FIA and Scuderia Ferrari have agreed to a number of technical commitments that will improve the monitoring of all Formula 1 Power Units for forthcoming championship seasons as well as assist the FIA in other regulatory duties in Formula 1 and in its research activities on carbon emissions and sustainable fuels."
The statement relates to investigations into Ferrari's 2019 power unit which looked set to dominate the second half of the season until the FIA was forced to issue a number of technical directives after Red Bull - and others - questioned its legality.
Though Ferrari insisted the power unit was legal, the team's performance subsequently dropped off, in some cases quite alarmingly.
However it is the fact that the "specifics of the agreement will remain private" between the FIA and Ferrari and that both parties have "reached a settlement" that is certain to cause reaction from rivals, for the failure to give any further insight clearly suggests that there was an issue with the legality of the power unit.
The core of the issue was fuel flow, with rivals claiming that the Maranello outfit was using a fuel sensor which allowed more fuel to be delivered to the power unit. At a time Max Verstappen openly accused Ferrari of "cheating", the only time the Italian team was hauled up before the stewards was in Abu Dhabi when the team was fined €50,000 for incorrectly declaring how much fuel was on board Charles Leclerc’s car.