FIA grants Ferrari permission to tweak engines

Ferrari has been granted permission by the FIA to make modifications to its engine in time for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa suffered engine issues in the opening flyaway events whilst Sauber, who use customer Ferrari engines, also encountered similar problems in the opening four races.

After finding glitches with the engine during further tests, Ferrari successfully applied to the governing body to make improvements to the power units on reliability grounds.

A statement by Ferrari said: “A lot of work was carried out on the test bench, completing several long runs and this work produced some solutions which it is felt will solve the reliability problems experienced in Bahrain and Malaysia. The team therefore requested and received authorisation from the FIA to make some changes within the framework of the current engine regulations and these modifications will be fitted to the engines to be used in Spain.

“While since China, everyone in the Gestione Sportiva has been working hard as always on their various areas of activity, it is fair to say that over the past weeks, the staff in the engine department really produced a major effort, working night and day to analyse, evaluate and solve issues that have affected engine performance in past races.”

Ferrari will also fit F-Ducts to both drivers’ cars for the first time in practice before a decision is made about whether to run the innovative concept in qualifying and the race.