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FIA to boost Ferrari ERS monitoring in Canada

Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting is confident that new software will make make it easier to for the governing body to monitor Ferrari's ERS system, which has been questioned by rival teams.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H

Andrew Hone / Motorsport Images

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari and Charlie Whiting, FIA Delegate
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, on the grid
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H, leads Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W09, Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF71H and Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W09
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, exits his car on the grid
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari and Charlie Whiting, FIA Delegate

The FIA has been looking at the Ferrari ERS and unique twin-battery arrangement since the Azerbaijan GP, and Whiting confirmed after Thursday's running in Monaco that he was now satisfied with it.

Contrary to earlier reports, Whiting says no extra sensors were fitted to the Ferraris in Monaco, and instead the FIA had to pursue a more complicated process to check how the system was operating.

The new software, which will be used from the Canadian GP onwards, will streamline that process and allow the FIA to continue to keep a close watch.

"Via a complex routine we were able to be satisfied that the Ferrari was OK," said Whiting. "But we don't want to have to go through that all the time in order to make sure, so we would rather additional measurements are made.

"What we will have for Canada will be a better system which will help us get things done much, much quicker, because it's taken us a couple of races to get to the bottom of it.

"We want them to put extra monitoring on, but at the moment we're having to do it in a painstaking way. It takes a little longer than we would like. We'll arrive at the same conclusion, I would imagine. In Canada they will be providing a change of software.

"What we're trying to do is to monitor exactly what the differences between the two halves of the battery are. That's the crux of the matter.

"Other systems treat their battery as one. Ferrari, it's one battery, but they treat it as two. That's the fundamental difference, I don't think it's a secret I'm giving away there."

Whiting says it would not be easy to fit sensors.

"It's not simple, because these things, not only are they sealed, because they only have two if them for the season, it's not just a straight matter of plucking a sensor off the shelf, and putting it on. It needs better integration for that.

"I'm not sure when any more additional sensors can be fitted. Probably not until next year, if the truth be known."

He admitted that it had been a complex problem for the FIA to address.

"We really have been trying to get to the point where we are entirely satisfied that the power being delivered to the MGU-K is correct.

"It was difficult to explain exactly what we were seeing, that's what we kept going through with Ferrari, because it's a very complex and totally different system to anybody else's.

"And in much the same way as we do with other bits of the car, we have to understand these things, it just took us a bit longer to understand what was going on.

"Their duty is to satisfy us that the car complies, as you know, but they were finding it hard to satisfy us.

"I think it's wrong to say that Ferrari didn't communicate, because they've been very helpful the whole way.

"It's just been very painstaking and detailed work to try to get to the bottom of how their system works, and hence give us the comfort that we need."

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