Ferrari will have to explain battery system usage following allegations. The scheme allegedly involves modifying the electrical currents.

After pushing the boundaries of the regulations with its creative halo-mounted mirrors, Scuderia Ferrari could once again come under the scrutiny of the FIA following allegations linked to the battery system of its 2018 SF71-H. According to Auto Motor und Sport, a formal protest against the Maranello team could be lodged at next week’s Monaco Grand Prix, the Scuderia’s rivals targeting a complex ploy by which Ferrari is able to extract more than the allowed four megajoules of energy from its battery system.

The scheme allegedly involves modifying the electrical currents in the system and the battery output, allowing for a bypass of the all-important sensor that measures the electrical usage, a ruse reportedly worth an extra 20bhp: “The alleged trickery is so complicated that FIA engineers are struggling to understand it,” said AMS reporter Michael Schmidt, according to f1i.com. Whether the allegations have merit or not remains to be seen, but arch-rival Mercedes has urged the FIA to act more quickly in the future regarding potential cases of illegality: “Any race in which grey areas remain grey can be a lost race,” said Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda – “The FIA has to clarify these unanswered questions by the race in Monte Carlo,” he added.