Lewis Hamilton Claims Ferrari Lost Power After FIA Investigation Into Engine

Published 11/03/2019, 5:06 AM EST

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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton noticed that the previously overpowered Ferrari’s straight-line speed was not as strong this weekend. This was especially after the FIA issued a clarification in an area of the technical regulations.

For the uninitiated, the FIA issued a technical directive informing teams of its intension to interpret an area of the regulations. In this particular case, it refers to the design of the power unit.

In the wake of numerous complaints by rival teams, led by Red Bull, Ferrari’s power unit was investigated. Now, Lewis Hamilton believes that the FIA scrutiny has ‘spooked’ the Maranello team and they have eased up on their power output.

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“What’s come out this week has been quite interesting to see,” said Hamilton to the media. “Obviously today I think they’ve lost a bit of power. I’m interested to see how that continues and how it reflects in the race tomorrow.”

In spite of this, Hamilton is still wary that the Scuderia may have enough pace to keep their rivals at bay.

via Imago

He continued, “Hopefully our car will be strong throughout the race tomorrow. Yesterday’s running was good today was a little bit difficult, hopefully tomorrow’s better.”

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This is the first time Ferrari have not taken pole position since July’s Hungarian Grand Prix. However, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff disagreed with Hamilton’s claim that the technical directive levelled the playing field.

“Certainly the three teams were much closer together in terms of straight-line performance here in the US,” said Wolff. “But I wouldn’t say this is down to any specific event. It’s just a fact that we’ve won our first pole position since July, since Hockenheim, and we are really in the mix.”

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“I think it’s very strong that the FIA issued a TD clarifying the situation with some very clear wording. But this is a process that is standard, happened before and part of the role of the governing body.”

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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