Ferrari admits FIA technical directives hit engine performance

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has acknowledged the impact of the FIA's successive technical directives on its power unit performance this year, forcing the Italian outfit to "adapt" to the new rules.

Several TDs were published last season by the FIA when suspicions about the legality of Ferrari's engine emerged after the summer break.

The directives were followed earlier this year by a confidential settlement between the Scuderia and the FIA based on an extensive investigation conducted by the governing body into Ferrari's power unit.

The end result has been a clear reduction of the Italian engine's output and a hit to its performance as Binotto alluded to in Hungary.

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"I think that the regulations are very difficult and complex," said Binotto. "I think there are areas of the regulations where maybe clarifications are still required.

"It's an ongoing process which has always existed in the past and will exist in the future.

"Since last year a lot of TDs [FIA technical directives] have been released, eventually clarifying some of the areas of the regulations. I think that through those TDs we had to adapt ourselves.

"I don't think it was only the case of Ferrari, I think looking at the power output of this season I think most of the other manufacturers had to adapt themselves.

"Certainly as Ferrari we had to adapt, and as a simple output of that we lost some of the performance we had.

"I think that now we've got a clearer situation in some areas of the regulations, hopefully that will continue if required for the future."

Binotto said that last spring's mandatory factory shutdown in Maranello that included Ferrari's engine department had restricted its ability to develop its engine this season.

"Engine or power unit development is an ongoing process that we never stopped since 2012, which was probably when we started developing those engines," added Binotto.

"Now it's been a long time that we were developing them. We were doing developments as well for this season we will not be able to introduce during this season itself, because we had the long shutdown period before the start of the season, which has not been the case for all the power unit manufacturers.

"We'll try to develop as much as we can by the start of next season. That's one point.

"The other side as I said, there are still areas of the regulations that need to be clarified, and hopefully that may be done in order that in the future at least there is sufficient clarity in the regulations to make sure that we've got all the same understanding."

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