Photo: Scuderia Ferrari on Facebook
The 2019 Formula 1 season may be over, but intrigue soldiers on as we get closer to the first race of 2020. Ferrari is at the center of this intrigue, although the dual-axis steering system of the Mercedes-AMG silver arrows is of more immediate concern.
To make a long story short, Ferrari had the legs on the straights in 2019. This led the other teams and manufacturers to believe that Maranello has extracted more power from the turbo V6 engine by exploiting the gray area of the rulebook. Worse still, some people are still suspecting the Prancing Horse of cheating.
This boost in performance was attributed to meddling with the fuel flow sensor, but never proven. As you’d expect, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile couldn’t sit idly given these circumstances. The governing body of Formula 1 opened an investigation back in 2019, and the results have been published today. Finally!
“After thorough technical investigations,” the FIA “has concluded its analysis of the operation of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 power unit and reached a settlement with the team.” In other words, negotiating with the FIA has helped the Cavallino Rampante keep those cheating suspicions secret from everybody.
The short statement from the governing body ends like this: “the specifics of the agreement will remain between the parties.” Don’t know about you, but this choice of words doesn’t confirm nor deny that Scuderia Ferrari cheated in 2019. The secretive nature of the agreement, however, paints a different picture.
Was it that hard for the FIA to specify “guilty” or “not guilty” in the press release or did they do it on purpose? Adding insult to injury, the federation and the Prancing Horse “have agreed to a number of technical commitments that will improve the monitoring of all Formula 1 power units for forthcoming championship seasons.”
On an ending note, it's worth highlighting that the FIA issued technical directives in 2019 right after the performance boost was reported. Immediately after those directives were issued, the straight-line speed of the Ferrari racecar fell back.
If that’s not an eyebrow-raising coincidence, then what is?
This boost in performance was attributed to meddling with the fuel flow sensor, but never proven. As you’d expect, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile couldn’t sit idly given these circumstances. The governing body of Formula 1 opened an investigation back in 2019, and the results have been published today. Finally!
“After thorough technical investigations,” the FIA “has concluded its analysis of the operation of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 power unit and reached a settlement with the team.” In other words, negotiating with the FIA has helped the Cavallino Rampante keep those cheating suspicions secret from everybody.
The short statement from the governing body ends like this: “the specifics of the agreement will remain between the parties.” Don’t know about you, but this choice of words doesn’t confirm nor deny that Scuderia Ferrari cheated in 2019. The secretive nature of the agreement, however, paints a different picture.
Was it that hard for the FIA to specify “guilty” or “not guilty” in the press release or did they do it on purpose? Adding insult to injury, the federation and the Prancing Horse “have agreed to a number of technical commitments that will improve the monitoring of all Formula 1 power units for forthcoming championship seasons.”
On an ending note, it's worth highlighting that the FIA issued technical directives in 2019 right after the performance boost was reported. Immediately after those directives were issued, the straight-line speed of the Ferrari racecar fell back.
If that’s not an eyebrow-raising coincidence, then what is?
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