The FIA has re-affirmed its stance while having a private settlement with Ferrari over its 2019 F1 power unit after an explosive joint statement.
After seven F1 teams – Mercedes, Red Bull, Renault, McLaren, Racing Point, Williams and AlphaTauri – decision to release a joint statement over FIA directive of settlement with Ferrari for its 2019 power unit case, the governing body has clarified its stance.
The FIA states that the decision was taken after careful understanding of the matter, where they admit of having doubts over the power unit of Ferrari but it felt that the complexity of the mechanism may not yield a positive case in their favour if taken to the court.
The governing body states that they weren’t 100 percent on winning the case against Ferrari with evidence and so the decision was to settle the matter privately, which legally they could do as per Article 4, thereby dismissing the seven teams’ idea of a court case.
The statement from the FIA read as:
“The FIA has conducted detailed technical analysis on the Scuderia Ferrari Power Unit as it is entitled to do for any competitor in the FIA Formula One World Championship. The extensive and thorough investigations undertaken during the 2019 season raised suspicions that the Scuderia Ferrari PU could be considered as not operating within the limits of the FIA regulations at all times.
“The Scuderia Ferrari firmly opposed the suspicions and reiterated that its PU always operated in compliance with the regulations.The FIA was not fully satisfied but decided that further action would not necessarily result in a conclusive case due to the complexity of the matter and the material impossibility to provide the unequivocal evidence of a breach.
“To avoid the negative consequences that a long litigation would entail especially in light of the uncertainty of the outcome of such litigations and in the best interest of the Championship and of its stakeholders, the FIA, in compliance with Article 4 (ii) of its Judicial and Disciplinary Rules (JDR), decided to enter into an effective and dissuasive settlement agreement with Ferrari to terminate the proceedings.
“This type of agreement is a legal tool recognised as an essential component of any disciplinary system and is used by many public authorities and other sport federations in the handling of disputes. The confidentiality of the terms of the settlement agreement is provided for by Article 4 (vi) of the JDR. The FIA will take all necessary action to protect the sport and its role and reputation as regulator of the FIA Formula One World Championship.”
Good thing that FIA were transparent enough to admit that they did this but probably should have told the other #F1 teams about it too. Now other teams want to know/understand what was the loophole which allowed Ferrari to gain so much, for which the joint statement.
— Darshan Chokhani (@DarshanChokhani) March 5, 2020
Here’s what the seven F1 teams said against the settlement
Here’s what FIA said regarding Ferrari F1 PU analysis