As soon as their rivals started complaining, the FIA looked into the fuel system in response to a Red Bull request for a technical explanation.
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Ferrari’s cheating scandal punishment: less gasoline.
As part of their punishment for the 2019 “cheating” incident, Ferrari was ordered to “use less fuel,” according to F1 steward Mika Salo, who also informed fellow Finn Kristian Sohlberg.
In 2019, Ferrari courted controversy as opponents questioned the Scuderia’s significantly enhanced power unit.
The FIA began an inquiry after being blatantly accused of “cheating” by Max Verstappen of Red Bull, which resulted in the issuance of Technical Directives regulating fuel flow and oil burning.
The Scuderia and its customer teams struggled as a result of Ferrari’s engine losing power.
After what the FIA referred to as a “thorough technical study,” the organization that governs motorsports came to a covert deal with Ferrari months later, before of the start of the 2020 season.
As was to be expected, Ferrari’s competitors were not pleased and continue to call for the settlement’s specifics to be made public.
Former driver turned steward Salo may have just revealed a portion of that.
During a Twitch stream conversation with Finnish rally driver Sohlberg, the issue of what went wrong for Ferrari and its client teams was raised.
The three Ferrari-powered teams had a difficult time maintaining their 2019 pace in 2018, losing the most lap time of any team on the grid.
According to Salo, who is quoted by Soymotor, “They suffered from Ferrari’s cheat last year because they used Ferrari engines and were obliged to use less gasoline. Therefore, I think so Alfa Romeo may be in a fantastic position if they can perform at their best in the race this season.”
They are permitted to utilize the engine’s full potential, Salo said. I’m not sure if it’s a new engine. Due to Ferrari, they were not permitted the previous year.
The Scuderia finished sixth in the Constructors’ Championship last year after failing to win any races. Alfa Romeo was eighth and Haas was ninth.
At the C41’s debut, he commented, “I think the relationship with Ferrari is going extremely well.”
“We held a lengthy meeting over the winter to discuss the areas of last year where we may not have performed perfectly.
“Our direction is good. The problem we had last year will probably be recovered in great part on their side, and the level of cooperation is improving.
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We must go back to the beginning of the 2019 campaign in order to completely comprehend the scenario. Rival teams had seen a decrease in the Ferrari vehicles’ straight-line performance as early as the second Bahraini race.
Just a couple of weeks after Melbourne, where Ferrari had a lackluster campaign and was losing time on every straight and corner, its performance advantage in Sakhir was suddenly solely based on the time it was gaining on the straights.
Rivals kept a close eye on things as the season went on, and it became clear at Monza when Ferrari was gaining as much as one second per lap on the straightaways. This was made clear by studying GPS data and being aware that any straightline speed advantage there is down to power and not aero efficiency (as all teams run minimum drag).
Rival teams were unable to comprehend or explain that kind of advantage.
Even with the benefit of DRS and a slipstream during the race, Lewis Hamilton had no chance of overtaking Charles Leclerc, who eventually won.
As the season came to a close, rival manufacturers were still perplexed about Ferrari’s edge, and two theories about what the Italian team might be doing surfaced.
The first was that oil may enter the combustion process through a controlled leak through the intercooler, helping to temporarily boost power.
The second hypothesis suggested that Ferrari had management allow the fuel flow rate to briefly exceed the 100 kg/h restriction between the locations when FIA measurements were made. More gasoline might then be used to generate more power once it reached the engine.
Despite the accusations, the FIA checked Ferrari and never discovered anything suspicious. At each race, the vehicle cleared scrutineering inspection.
Red Bull spoke to the FIA in advance of the Mexican Grand Prix, however, seeking clarity on whether or not using a technology that circumvented the fuel flow sensor would be permitted. Such inquiries are frequently made to learn what competitors are doing,
The ruling body answered that such a system would not be permitted. It was obvious that manipulating the fuel flow rate to increase it before the measurements were collected would be prohibited.
On the eve of the US Grand Prix, Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s head of single seater affairs, informed all teams via a technical directive that two technical restrictions would prohibit such fuel flow functions.
As follows:
Article 5.10.3: Each car must be equipped with a single fuel flow sensor that is completely housed inside the gasoline tank and was created to a specification established by the FIA’s authorised supplier. Only authorized uses of this sensor are permitted, according the FIA. Additionally, every fuel delivery to the power unit must go through this homologated sensor and be made by the fuel injectors outlined in Article 5.10.2 before being made to the combustion chambers.
5.10.5: It is forbidden to use any tool, method, or process that would enhance the flow rate or store and reuse fuel after the measuring point.
Ferrari Engine Cheating Penalty From 2019 Announced in Formula One
Salo disclosed that the primary cause of the loss of power was due to the FIA punishing Ferrari and its client teams by requiring them to utilize less fuel.
- According to reports, as part of the punishment, Ferrari was required to use less fuel.
- Less gasoline meant that its 2020 engine performed worse.
- The same punishment was meted out to Ferrari customer teams as well.
Numerous whispers and rumors suggested that Ferrari had cheated with their 2019 engine. And while the team was unbeatable on power-hungry tracks in 2019, a sudden change in technical regulations brought on by an FIA inquiry produced a large loss in power, which is one of the key causes of Ferrari and its client teams’ extreme performance decline in 2020. Ferrari disclosed a covert arrangement with Formula 1 at the outset of the 2020 season, although the company wasn’t formally accused of wrongdoing. The renowned Italian team was subject to some penalties under the terms of the agreement with the authorities, according to former F1 driver and F1 Stewart Mika Salo, who was speaking to Finnish rally driver Kristian Sohlberg.
Salo disclosed that one of the primary causes of the lack of power was due to the FIA punishing Ferrari and its client teams by requiring them to utilize less fuel. Salo added of the Alfa Romeo team, which is employing a new Ferrari power unit, “They suffered from Ferrari’s cheat last year since they had Ferrari engines and were forced to use less fuel. So I think so Alfa Romeo may be in a strong position if they can perform at their best in the race this season.”
“They are permitted to run the engine at full capacity, albeit I’m not sure if it’s a new one. Due to Ferrari, they were not permitted the previous year “Salo elaborated.
Salo may be correct, but it is also true that Ferrari will introduce a brand-new powertrain in 2021 and may do the same in 2022. Both Mattia Binotto, the head of Ferrari, and Fred Vasseur, the head of Alfa Romeo, have previously declared that Ferrari will have a competitive power unit in 2021 that is not the worst on the grid.
Gunther Steiner, the head of Haas Formula 1, thinks Ferrari currently has the best engine on the grid after all three of its teams advanced to Bahrain’s Q3.
In 2020, Ferrari’s engine performance suffered a substantial decline, which put its works team and the customer outfits, Haas and Alfa Romeo, at a competitive disadvantage.
Ferrari had confidence going into the new season after making good progress with its engine the previous year and receiving a late-season boost from an improved hybrid system that was meant for 2022.
According to some estimates, Ferrari’s engine power advantage over the competition may be worth up to two tenths of a second each lap.
Ferrari now has the greatest engine in Formula One, according to Haas CEO Steiner after qualifying.
“Since they were in our shoes, I genuinely believe it, and it gives them a lot of credit. They were subjected to a lot of abuse about it.
They simply returned, completed their research, and brought something excellent.
For his debut race with Alfa Romeo, Bottas will start from the third row and stated that there are “no longer any huge disparities between any of the engine manufacturers.”
Ferrari, according to Bottas, “has done a nice job, they’ve obviously made a step ahead from last year.” That is a development, without a doubt.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified second on the grid, 0.123 seconds off of pole position, behind the two Ferraris. Although Ferrari’s performance was “not solely down to the engine,” the defending world champion noted that the team was “obviously running well on the straights.”
Although Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri made it to Q3, he highlighted that his team had “some work to do if we want to get to the top of the midfield” because “the Ferrari-powered cars are incredibly fast.”
Four Mercedes-powered vehicles were eliminated in Q1, along with Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri, which is powered by a Honda engine with the Red Bull logo on it.
Daniel Ricciardo, who competed for McLaren, was ousted in the first round of qualifying after finishing 18th, and Lando Norris, who placed 13th, was eliminated in the second round.
McLaren F1 chief Andreas Seidl believed the team needed to concentrate on contrasting itself to the works Mercedes outfit, which utilizes the identical engines, when asked about engine parity.
We must admit that we had poor performance regardless of the problems we had, Seidl stated.
“The most crucial thing at this point is for us to just recognise that and contrast ourselves with the Mercedes works team. We miss Mercedes by about a second. That is the best example we can use, and as a team, that is what we are concentrating on.
“We know we most likely just miss grip, which is likely caused by missing mechanical grip and aerodynamic grip, and it’s just necessary now to focus all of our work on making sure we find performance as quickly as possible.”