Williams: Ferrari need to approve engine disclosure

The coronavirus is the headline news in F1 but don’t think for a moment that the seven teams opposed to the Ferrari FIA settlement are letting that slip quietly away.

Earlier this year the FIA announced that it had reached an agreement with Ferrari that brought an end to last year’s engine saga.

The statement added that the “specifics of the agreement will remain between the parties.”

That angered Ferrari’s rivals.

The FIA refused to make a call over whether Ferrari’s engine was legal or not and rivals want to know.

Williams, Mercedes, McLaren, Racing Point, Red Bull, Renault and AlphaTauri wrote an open letter to the FIA demanding full disclosure or else they’d seek legal redress.

The seven issued the FIA with a deadline that has come and gone.

However, two days after the deadline Formula 1 faced an even bigger crisis as the sport debated whether to cancel the Australian GP after a positive coronavirus team in the paddock.

In the end the race was cancelled and the teams packed up shop to return to Europe.

Don’t think for a moment, though, that the seven rivals are letting the engine saga slink into the background

“I think [the FIA] would argue that they have come to their conclusions based on the statutes that are there,” Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams told The-Race, “the regulations that they have to operate against.

“Certainly the seven teams that are involved in this conversation with the FIA just want transparency and to know what that settlement was.

“That’s what we’re pushing for.”

Williams is uncertain as to whether the FIA will cave and release all the details. She thinks that may rest with Ferrari.

“We have to wait to see,” she added. “I believe it’s up to Ferrari to approve that disclosure.”

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