FIA ‘amused’ by Hamilton’s Ferrari ‘trick’ comments

Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting says he was “amused” by Lewis Hamilton’s comments about Ferrari’s dominant performance at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was passed by Sebastian Vettel on the opening lap at Spa and was unable to fight back, as Vettel went on to secure a convincing win that narrowed the Briton’s lead in the drivers’ championship to 17 points.

The Mercedes driver said Ferrari “have a few trick things going on in the car” following his defeat to Vettel, but later clarified his comments, stressing he was not questioning the legality of the Scuderia’s SF71H.

"I'm quite amused about it really because we know quite a lot about Ferrari's car and there is no way Lewis would know about anything about the Ferrari car,” Whiting replied when asked what he made of Hamilton’s remarks.

“They are doing a good job at the moment and Mercedes have got to try to counter that, haven't they?"

Ferrari made impressive strides over the winter and appears to have overtaken Mercedes in engine performance, but Whiting insisted the FIA is on top of the situation and is satisfied that Ferrari’s 2018 challenger conforms to the regulations.

"Well that particular comment doesn't actually say anything,” he added. “If he says they have got a few tricks going on in that car well clearly they have got some things going on in that car that are giving it performance, which we are all aware of - I mean us in the FIA - and obviously we are happy with it."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said his team is trying to work out what its chief rival is doing, but remains confident the FIA is policing the sport in a fair manner.

"It is human nature that if you are being outperformed on track, you are looking at yourself where it is lacking and then you are looking at your competitors,” Wolff explained.

“If you haven't got the explanation, then you are trying to imagine all the nasty things. I haven't got any information but I have a real faith in the FIA.

"There is a great group of people around Olivier [Hulot - head of F1 electronics], and Cedrik [Staudohar - F1 trackside engineer] and Nikolas [Tombazis - head of single seater technical matters] that are on top of things and control each and every team, that are open minded, and this goes for all the teams.

"Everyone will try to innovate and try to find additional performance and they - they, as in FIA - as far as I am concerned, are doing the right things.”