The FIA has confiscated the parts that regulate the flow of fuel to the Ferrari F1 engine. But in Maranello, they claim they are calm…

As if the domestic battle between Vettel and Leclerc were not enough, another problem rains down on Ferrari: specifically that the Fia has seized engine parts in Sao Paulo to analyse that everything is correct.

As a result, the FIA has seized engine parts in Sao Paulo, firstly an engine built in Maranello, then a twin engine supplied to Alfa Romeo and on a third engine, namely a Honda power unit (Red Bull or Toro Rosso).

The FIA confirmed that they were investigating a component of the system that brings fuel to the power unit. All this has been denied by a well-informed German magazine Auto Moto und Sport, which has always been very reliable over the years, but has also always been very closely linked to Mercedes. Some say perhaps too closely linked.

So much so that the German’s titled their piece in a rather one-way fashion: ‘Benzinsysteme von Ferrari konfisziert’, translated ‘Ferrari petrol systems confiscated’, so pointing their finger only at Maranello when actually a Honda unit has been investigated alongside the Ferrari.

Of course, all of this is not unusual in Formula 1 with teams trying to put pressure on their rivals by feeding any kind of suspicion.

Mercedes and Red Bull threw the first suspicions on Ferrari, so much so that Verstappen in Texas came out with the phrase “They stopped cheating” when the Ferrari’s rather bizarrely lacked top speed, which in turn triggering Vettel’s reaction in Brazil: “Suspicious, very suspicious of Honda speed in a straight line”.

Meanwhile, yesterday morning the FIA issued a new directive, document 39/19, in which they asked the teams to mount a second flowmeter that can be directly controlled by the Federation.

Consider that in Formula 1 – there are the best circumventors of rules of the planet, but now we have Ross Brawn at the top of Liberty Media, who is an absolute master in finding the grey zones of rule sets.

At Ferrari they admit the confiscation, but they say they are calm. All this because even in the sixth year of the hybrid era, it seems impossible to produce a flowmeter identical to the others… To be clear, what happened after the Brazilian race has nothing to do with the result of the Grand Prix, so there are no official notes about it and the result has been certified.

So we are looking at a new investigation into a subject that has been debated for months. In one year, 40 to 50 such checks are carried out. And they always remain secret. And yet this particular one is hitting the media. And this time, a German magazine, namely Auto Motor und Sport, has leaked everything. 

This is the case after a race in which the Mercedes engine in crisis for altitude and humidity was exceeded in top speed (322kph) by both Ferarri (331kph) and Honda (329kph). 

Some have alleged that this is spy warfare saying that Ferrari has its problems with the drivers, so there’s now an opportunity to put a little more pressure on them. Tinfoil hats ahoy.

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