Ferrari has followed Renault in dropping its appeal against Racing Point, which on Sunday also withdrew its own appeal against its sanction for copying Mercedes’ brake ducts.
It brings to a close a saga which has dragged on since the opening race of the 2020 season.
Although Racing Point’s RP20 was declared legal after Renault protested it in Styria, Hungary and Britain, the FIA fined the team €400,000 and docked it 15 Constructors’ Championship points after agreeing with Renault’s claim that the brake ducts were a direct copy of those run by Mercedes in 2019.
Renault and Ferrari protested that the sanction wasn’t harsh enough and sought clarity on the rules, whilst Racing Point protested in an attempt to clear its name, insisting it had done nothing wrong.
The rules have now been amended for 2021, which led to Renault withdrawing its protest, with Racing Point following.
Ferrari has now pulled its protest, bringing the matter to a close.
The team said in a statement it “has notified the International Court of Appeal of its decision to withdraw the appeal filed with the case ICA-2020-01-02-03-04.
“In recent weeks, the collaboration between FIA, Formula 1 and the teams has produced a series of acts – amendments to the 2021 Technical and Sporting Regulations, approved by the F1 Commission and the FIA World Motor Sport Council, and Technical Directives – which clarify the responsibilities of each Championship participant in the design of the components of a single-seater and implement specific monitoring procedures to ensure that both the letter and the spirit of the Regulations are fully respected.
“Scuderia Ferrari expresses its appreciation for the timeliness with which the FIA and Formula 1 have effectively tackled a fundamental aspect of the DNA of this highly competitive sport.”
So FIA is going to invent its own design conformance monitor/audit scheme.
Or it could model it upon the very common legislative systems and the ‘commercial’ management systems that implement them such as ISO9000 series.
Or the very similar elements of compliance such as in tthe aviation industry.
Most probably, the FIA Technical Department will invent their own scheme as the requirements of motorsport is exclusive ans special, just like their approach to Safety Management.