When the FIA announced that they had reached a deal with Ferrari on the legality of its 2019 power unit, the deal was said to be between the two parties only (secret/private) and that they are now moving forward. Done and dusted, nothing to see here.
The world found the verbiage of the press release a tad strange and now the remaining teams in Formula 1 have sent a letter to the regulatory body asking for transparency and threatening legal action.
Despite the window of time to register a complaint over the matter has closed according to the FIA regulations but the teams are not happy with the arrangement.
I would imagine that the teams would like to know more about what Ferrari were doing, what the FIA discovered and what measures are being taken to prevent it from happening again.
The FIA investigated the Ferrari engine a couple of times last year. I recall the results as suggesting things were in compliance but a further investigation prompted a directive last in the season and, perhaps coincidentally or not, the Ferrari pace seemed to slow after the release of the directive.
Regardless, last week’s statement suggested that Ferrari 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.”
It was an odd statement at the time and a bit unprecedented in recent memory and this has concerned the remaining teams. Here is the joint statement from the teams:
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.
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
Rather tame response from the teams. It’s a rare occasion they agree on anything, especially the wording on this statement.