Exediron wrote:
A.J. wrote:
Exediron wrote:
A.J. wrote:
This isn't any different (in my mind) from the flexi-wing thing for which RedBull and Newey were (largely) admired, or even the blown diffusers - the FIA sets the rules, figures out the tests, and the teams have to comply with them. If a team can figure out a way to get an advantage and still be compliant, they can and will do it. It is up to the FIA to police them - there is no gentleman's code that any team is following. How does one know where to draw the line?
It's different from those examples for the key reason that the rules are black and white on the subject of fuel flow.
If Ferrari is doing anything at all to get more fuel into the engine than allowed, they are cheating. The rules even state outright that any system designed to circumvent the sensor is illegal. There really isn't any room for interpretation.
This is more similar to allegations that Red Bull was using traction control on their cars circa 2013. If Red Bull had been proven to be doing so (and they never were), that would not have been finding a clever loophole. It would have been cheating.
Except that we don't even know if that's what they have done - or what they have done at all - to imply that they are somehow circumventing the sensor(s) without proof is slander at best. As are the suggestions that the FIA is somehow protecting Ferrari for whatever reason - that's basically all I see in the echo chamber that this thread has become.
If you look through my post, you will see an important 'if' in there.
I am not implying that Ferrari is cheating. I am saying that
if Ferrari is doing what is alleged,
that is cheating. You said where do we draw the line, and I'm saying that there already is a line: if the rules outright state you can't do exactly what you're doing, you're over the line. If the rules imply that you can't but don't state it, that's different. But there is none of that wiggle room around the fuel flow sensor.
Well, that's what all have been saying, even the posters that are "defending" Ferrari if you want, that they should be innocent until proven guilty. "If they are cheating throw the book at them" is essentially what I wrote before in this thread before, but of course you need proof to do that. There are however people that are certain that Ferrari have cheated, even if there no such outcome from numerous investigations. There's a very big possibility that they are doing something very clever or very illegal, but until we find out more, we should be patient.
The RB example is valid in the sense that they did exactly what the rules allowed, the wings were not flexing under the specified load, but they did under a higher load during the race, so by the letter of the rule they did meet the requirement. Clever and not a cheat per ce, one of those loopholes that the FIA could have so easily prevented, but left the door open. I agree that the fuel is a black and white, so if they are doing something wrong it will be easy to find out and punish it.
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