The alleged irregularities of the Ferrari SF90
Thanks to the two brilliant victories obtained by Charles Leclerc in Belgium and Italy, the strict competition has begun, as already seen, to become suspicious. Although the layouts of the circuits in object are perfectly suited to the low drag concept of the car from Maranello, offering a clear and obvious advantage in terms of performance, the competitors of the historic Italian team are starting to think they might be playing dirty.
In the last few weeks, in fact, increasing rumors in the paddock have raised strong doubts about the conformity of Cavallino’s work. Despite the lack of reliable evidence, Italian technicians are said to have found the trick to circumvent the regulation, being able to have an extra power of 40 kilowatts. The alleged advantage achieved would “give” Ferrari drivers a substantial increase in horses, able to making the difference in tracks like Spa and Monza, where power is a crucial parameter.
In reality the “conspiracy theories” againist the Ferrari SF90 are two. The first indicates, as the object of the alleged crime, a high-pressure fuel pump capable, thanks to a particular system, of delivering a greater quantity of fuel. The “second head of indictment”, which hit Maranello these days, is a battery capable of producing more power than expected, thanks to its ability to store energy in a shorter time. This supposed advantage, although the FIA monitors these systems with extreme accuracy, would have escaped the technicians of the international federation, offering, to the SF90, a support, from the hybrid, greater than 40 kilowatts.
As always in these cases the conditional is mandatory, especially since, in a country where there is standard law, a “defendant” can only be found guilty if there is irrefutable evidence. To add pepper to the already very spicy Italian dish we think Mercedes and Red Bull capable, with the statements of their team managers, of lighting fire to an already particularly warm environment …
“We [Mercedes], along with Renault and Honda, are practically at the same level, while the Ferrari engine is sometimes producing outstanding performances comments Toto Wolff, executive director of the Brackley team.
Christian Horner quickly joined the chorus of complaints, which, despite not having any proof, confirmed the requests made to the FIA for a clarification on the possible illegality of Ferrari in the statements issued to the German AMuS. At the moment, according to the latest news, the Austrian team has not yet received any response from the federation.
“Yes, we let the FIA know our suspicions, even if, at the moment, we haven’t received any answers yet,” says Horner.
Given the premises, the many words and complaints sent show that, although Ferrari is not dominating the championship, it is, at the moment, in the eye of the storm. Only the next few weeks will shed light on the situation, hoping that, if it is a “crime”, it will not end up as no action taken as it was last season when, the famous “limited irregularity” intervened to silence the tangled case of the Mercedes perforated rims.
I see the risk of FIA treating this Ferrari case as a compensation of Mercedes case from last year, when the Germans did not get any penalties. This would be a mistake, anyway. In my opinion, if Ferrari should be found guilty of having plaied outside the boundaries of FIA rules, the international federation should still charge Ferrari with penalties, even though this would sound as a fury by the FIA against the italian scuderia.
Editor and Photo: Alessandro Arcari – @BerrageizF1
translation: Veronica Vesco