Formula 1: recapping the past week's news

The most dominant news story from Formula 1 this week revolves around Scuderia Ferrari. Following its investigation into Ferrari’s energy recovery system, the FIA confirmed the legality of the Scuderia’s SF71-H, but the governing body will continue to monitor the team’s ERS in Canada next week.

The Maranello team was suspected – mainly by Mercedes – of running an ERS capable of producing more than the 120kW energy limit delivered to the MGU-K. While it was believed the FIA had fitted an extra sensor to the SF71 to monitor its ERS, F1 race director Charlie Whiting denied the claim, and said a more complicated monitoring procedure had been used in Monte Carlo. A simpler software-based procedure shall be implemented for Montreal where the FIA will be keeping a watchful eye on Ferrari’s ERS.

“Via a complex routine we were able to be satisfied that the Ferrari was OK but we don’t want to have to go through that all the time in order to make sure, so we would rather additional measurements are made,” Charlie Whiting told Motorsport.com – “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. We want them to put extra monitoring on, but at the moment we’re having to do it in a painstaking way. It takes a little longer than we would like. We’ll arrive at the same conclusion, I would imagine. In Canada they will be providing a change of software. What we’re trying to do is to monitor exactly what the differences between the two halves of the battery are. That’s the crux of the matter. Other systems treat their battery as one. Ferrari, it’s one battery, but they treat it as two. That’s the fundamental difference, I don’t think it’s a secret I’m giving away there. I think it’s wrong to say that Ferrari didn’t communicate, because they’ve been very helpful the whole way.” – he explained.

Mallya Steps Down as Director of Force India
F1 Force India team boss Vijay Mallya walks through the press as he arrives at The City of Westminster Magistrates Court on January 11, 2018 in London, England. The Indian liquor tycoon is wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering. Vijay Mallya, co-owner for Force India, has stepped away from the team according to a report from BBC Sport.

Mallya has been embroiled in legal troubles recently – he was arrested last fall on charges of money laundering, following an arrest earlier in the Spring on charges of fraud – and is in the midst of fighting on extradition request from the Indian government. Mallya’s son, Siddarth, will fill in his role with the Force India team, though the elder Mallya is staying on as team principal: “There was no compulsion anywhere to resign. It’s just that I decided my son should replace me. I have my own legal issues to take care of, so it’s better that the company remains unaffected,” Mallya said of his decision. Force India is currently sixth in the constructor’s championship, with Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon sitting on 17 and nine points respectively.

Williams Parts Ways With Head of Aerodynamics
Lance Stroll of Canada driving the (18) Williams Martini Racing FW41 Mercedes on track during qualifying for the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit de Monaco on May 26, 2018 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Amidst a very disappointing start to the season that sees them last in the constructor’s championship with four points – courtesy of Lance Stroll’s eighth place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Williams has parted ways with Dirk De Beer, who had been their head of aerodynamics, per BBC Sport.

According to the BBC, the FW41 chassis has been suffering from a significant aerodynamic issue in which the air is not flowing cleanly over the car when the front wheels are turned, hampering the car’s grip level when it enters corners. Chief engineer Doug McKiernan will take over that role.