Charlie Whiting has stated that the FIA will have “additional monitoring” of Scuderia Ferrari‘s Energy Recovery System for the Canadian Grand Prix, after suspicions were raised over the Italian team’s usage before Thursday Free Practice at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
During the practice sessions, the sport’s governing body fitted extra hardware to the SF71-H‘s ERS to investigate any transgressions. Ferrari’s main Constructors’ Championship rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport claimed that the Ferrari system exceeded the 120kW energy limit that can be delivered to the MGU-K; Ferrari’s system was deemed legal after the data was scrutinised.
Although Whiting did confirm that assessments will take place on the Ferrari in Canada, he believes that a more reliable, sensor based system cannot be integrated until next season.
“We were able to be satisfied that the Ferrari was okay,” Whiting told Motorsport.com last Sunday. “But we don’t have to go through that all the time in order to make sure.
“We would rather additional measures are made. What we will have for Canada will be a better system which will help us get things done much, much quicker, because it’s taken us a couple of races to get to the bottom of it.”
Whiting explained that Ferrari’s system is different to their fellow competitors, making monitoring more difficult and that it took the FIA “a little longer” to understand the intricacies.
“It takes a little longer than we would like. We’ll arrive at the same conclusion, I would imagine,” he added. “In Canada they will be providing a change of software.
“Other systems treat their battery as one whereas Ferrari – it’s one battery, but they treat it as two. That’s the fundamental difference, I don’t think it’s a secret. It’s a very complex and totally different system to anybody else’s.
“We’re trying to monitor exactly what the differences between the two halves of the battery are. That’s the crux of it.”
Whiting dismissed rumours that Ferrari were interfering with the investigation, reiterating that the complexity of their system meant a more in-depth look was needed in order to satisfy the FIA.
“I think it’s wrong to say that Ferrari didn’t communicate, because they’ve been very helpful the whole way,” he stressed.
“Their duty is to satisfy us that the car complies, as you know, but they were finding it hard to satisfy us.
“It’s just been very painstaking and detailed work to try to get to the bottom of how their system works, and hence give us the comfort that we need.”
