Report: FIA sensor causes Ferrari power drop
Ferrari may have lost its power advantage after the FIA further clamped down on the questionable performance of its power unit.
Earlier in 2018, the governing body installed a sensor in the energy recovery systems of the Maranello team's car, following suspicious about legality.
Auto Motor und Sport reports that a second sensor has now been added, resulting in a clear drop in performance in the last two races.
"We can see it clearly in our GPS data," admitted Renault team boss Cyril Abiteboul.
It means Mercedes has pulled back ahead of Ferrari, even though Mercedes engine boss Andy Cowell insists that the red car "still has plenty of power".
When asked about Ferrari's mysterious power drop in Singapore and Russia, 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg told Sport1: "I don't think we can judge that.
"Let's wait for the next races. If it's still the case, then we can say 'Ok something has happened'. But it's too early for that," he added.
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I notice the Ferrari isn’t smoking or venting on start up like it was earlier in the season. Have they been up to no good? Or simply interpreting the rules differently?
All teams attempt to interpret the rules in their favour and no doubt bend those rules in the pursuit of speed but it only a fine line between this and going too far. Since the second sensor was installed Ferrari certainly have gone backwards and it does suggest that something that was being deployed by them now isn't incase it's picked up by the sensor. I do wish though that the Pundits at Sky and elsewhere told us more on the subject.. They obviously know more than they are telling us and it would be so much more interesting to know more about what's going on behind the scenes.