MOTORSPORT: Formula 1's mysterious power politics

Ferrari’s Formula 1 rivals have been suspicious for much of this season that the Italian team is up to something dodgy, without accusing it outright of cheating.

It’s clear that – although Lewis Hamilton leads the drivers’ world championship and Mercedes the constructors’ standings – Ferrari now has the best V6 hybrid power unit, but it’s unclear where its big advance has come.

The suspicion is that it’s in the energy recovery system, perhaps some trickery with the battery.

It’s not only the works Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen that are benefitting but also the customer teams Haas and Sauber which use Ferrari’s power unit.

The governing Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has fielded questions throughout the season from opposition teams but the FIA’s F1 race director Charlie Whiting has twice now said he is happy that Ferrari’s hybrid system is legal.

“We are entirely satisfied with everything,” Whiting said this week.

Mercedes, having dominated the previous four years of the hybrid era, has the most to lose but has been cautious in the words it has used on the subject.

Cyril Abiteboul – F1 boss of Renault, which has a works team as well as supplying its power units to Red Bull Racing and McLaren – has talked of seeing “strange” data on Ferrari’s performance but been careful not to accuse it of illegality.

“The step that they have done is amazing,” Abiteboul said.

“It’s a step that they have done to a certain degree that does not go with a hardware introduction.

“We are scratching our heads, because we look in particular at the GPS profile, and we see indeed that it’s really strange what they are doing.

“But doing something strange doesn't mean that it’s illegal.”

Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg said: “Something is going on there. It’s not normal. All Ferrari-powered cars have a lot of power all at once.”

Red Bull is not buying into the matter, at least publicly, its usually blunt motorsport supremo Helmut Marko saying diplomatically that “we have to trust the integrity of people and organisations in F1 and we do that”.

Red Bull has other worries, especially whether recycled parts on Daniel Ricciardo’s power unit will hold up at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, allowing him to avoid grid penalties and perhaps compete for victory at a circuit which should suit his RB14.

The carsales.com.au global ambassador took penalties that put him at the back of the grid in Germany last weekend but dropped out mid-race anyway with a failure in the power unit that has not been explained.

Red Bull is annoyed that Renault only gave Ricciardo three of six possible new power unit elements there.

“The normal strategy is to change everything you can (when incurring grid penalties anyway),” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.

Ricciardo said in Budapest that everything is “fine at the moment”.

“We still have another engine (which can be used before incurring penalties). Unless something unplanned happens to that, we should be OK,” he said.

If all goes well, the Australian and teammate Max Verstappen could be in the mix to win what will be the fifth GP in six weeks before a four-week break.

The 4.38km circuit, with 13 corners and overtaking difficult, is not expected to suit Mercedes but should favour Ferrari, which finished first and second there a year ago and will be keen for a repeat after the death this week of Fiat-Chrysler and Ferrari chief Sergio Marchionne after complications from shoulder surgery.

Ricciardo has wanted his contract for next year sorted before the break, and it may have been, but there has been no announcement yet. If he’s to stay with Red Bull, as seems likely, it could yet come this weekend, although there is a slight chance that Marchionne’s passing may have changed things at Ferrari.

While it has seemed to be deciding between keeping Kimi Raikkonen or promoting 20-year Charles Leclerc from Sauber as Vettel’s teammate next year, there has been speculation this week of Fernando Alonso returning to the Prancing Horse.

If there is no deal done yet on the second Ferrari seat, perhaps Ricciardo may yet get a look in there.

The Mercedes-powered Force India team’s financial predicament is now precarious, with Williams driver Lance Stroll’s billionaire father Lawrence tipped to buy out embattled owner Vijay Mallya and his imprisoned associate Subrata Roy.

McLaren has hired Toro Rosso technical director James Key but he is unlikely to start work before at least next year at the sport’s second most successful team that hasn’t won a GP since 2012.

Elsewhere on the motorsport scene:

— Australia’s Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power needs a big result at Mid-Ohio this weekend at the 13th of the 17 IndyCar rounds if he is to challenge New Zealander Scott Dixon, who looks headed to a fifth series title.

— The World Rally Championship resumes in Finland, with Hyundai’s Belgian driver Thierry Neuville, chasing his world title, 27 points ahead of the French champion of the past five years, Sebastien Ogier in a Ford Fiesta. Hyundai leads the M-Sport Ford squad by 28 points in the manufacturer standings.

— The Australian Rally Championship returns to Tasmania after a 10-year absence, with a new event starting in Launceston tonight. Eli Evans, driving a Skoda Fabia, has a 25-point lead, with the challenges this weekend likely to come from Harry Bates in a Toyota Yaris and the Subaru Imprezas of Steve Glenney and Molly Taylor.

— A new CAMS commission to begin next year will focus on women’s participation and development in motorsport, replacing the existing entity (WAMS). CAMS recently launched the Australian arm of the Dare to be Different (D2BD) program headed by Susi Wolff, the ex-F1 test driver, one-time German touring car championship racer and wife of Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff.

— “While D2BD has a focus on encouraging young women to take up STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) education subjects and increasing women’s participation in motor sport among school aged students, the commission will take a broader look at females in the sport to ensure they are adequately represented and heard,” said CAMS chief executive Eugene Arocca.