Ferrari faces FIA probe over excess engine power
At the start of this season, Matt Fagerson had his sights set on being on the plane which set off from Edinburgh Airport last night, carrying the Scotland Under-20 team to the south of France to compete over the next four weeks in the World Rugby U20 Championship.
The fact that he didn’t make that flight has nothing to do with injury or loss of form. On the contrary, everything has gone so well during his first season as a full-time pro that the 19-year-old is now gearing up instead to head over to the Americas with the senior Scotland squad, and the odds are stacked in favour of the rambunctious back-row making his international debut at some point on the trip.
He is now firmly established as the Warriors’ first choice blindside flanker, having started in 11 of the team’s last 12 games, and is growing in confidence and influence with every match.
“It has been awesome year. My target was just to make a good impression, I didn’t expect to play as much as I have,” said Fagerson, who has been presented with the Sir Willie Purves quaich from Friends of Scottish Rugby as Young Scottish Player of Year.
While the opportunity to become the first teenager to pick up a Scotland cap since Stuart Hogg in 2012 is obviously a thrilling prospect, Fagerson admits to some disappointment at missing out on his last major tournament as an age-grade player.
“The Under-20s World Cup last year was awesome – it was one of the best experiences in my life to have four weeks with your mates – and we had an excellent run of games to beat Australia and Wales. I was really gutted, in a way, not to be going – but at the end of the day you are not going to turn down a tour call,” he added. Ferrari are being investigated by Formula One’s governing body following claims that they have broken the rules this season.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton’s closest championship challenger, won the opening two rounds of the season, and rival teams believe the Italians have been gaining an unfair advantage by deploying more engine power than is permitted.
The FIA is believed to have been monitoring the situation from the opening races in Australia and Bahrain, and now, on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix, it has demanded that Ferrari run a device on their engine to ensure they are sticking to the law book.
An F1 spokesman said: “The governing body have asked Ferrari to run an extra piece of hardware that monitors their Energy Recovery System. This weekend, the FIA will monitor the system in operation before analysing data and making any judgments.”
A spokesman for the Italian team said in Monaco: “Ferrari does not comment on speculation.”
Suspicions over alleged foul play gathered pace during last month’s Chinese Grand Prix after Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen secured the team’s second consecutive front-row lockout.
Vettel was more than half a second clear of the Mercedes cars at a track where, up until this season, the German constructor had dominated.
Vettel was again on pole at the following race in Azerbaijan. It is understood that at this point all four of the grid’s engine suppliers – Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Renault – were asked to provide schematics of their engine layouts to the FIA.
Ferrari’s systems were probed in Baku and at the last round in Spain. Hamilton won the Barcelona race as Mercedes returned to their all-conquering best.
Niki Lauda, Mercedes non-executive chairman, said: “Any race in which grey areas remain grey can be a lost race. The FIA has to clarify these unanswered questions by the next race in Monte Carlo.”