Ferrari: Mercedes’ actions over Haas link were ‘fair’

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene says it was “fair” from Mercedes to seek clarity over the Scuderia’s partnership with newcomers Haas F1 Team.

The world champions requested the FIA to study a potential loophole in the regulations that would enable Maranello to circumvent the aerodynamic testing restrictions (ATR) relating to wind tunnel time and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Joining the fray in 2016, Haas has been enjoying a strong technical association with Ferrari, with the US outfit buying many components from the revered Italian squad while also using its windtunnel.

Although F1’s ruling body eventually agreed with Mercedes’ concerns and plans on moving to prevent such a situation from happening again, Arrivabene holds no grudge against his rivals’ approach.

“We were absolutely transparent, we provided all the papers to the FIA step by step,” said the Ferrari boss.

“There is nothing wrong because we were transparent. I think the other guys [Mercedes] were asking fair questions, if the FIA needs to change the regulations we more than support it, it’s absolutely fine.”

Asked whether he was aware of Mercedes’ intention before it went to the Stewards, Arrivabene added: “They informed us as a courtesy that they were doing that and we accept it of course. What can we say? Don’t do it? They will do it, but as a courtesy they informed us.”

Despite the FIA siding with Mercedes, no sanction will be given to Ferrari, nor Haas, as “retrospectivity shall not apply” since the rules were deemed ambiguous.

While warning against a potential “arms race” if Ferrari/Haas-like partnerships were authorised in future, Toto Wolff insisted that Mercedes did not target any specific team in its actions.

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