Ferrari worried by information leak in Suzuka

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene is concerned that technical information is being leaked from the squad, having been forced to confirm reports that the FIA have fixed another sensor to the Scuderia's cars to monitor electrical output at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The pace of Ferrari's cars has been a topic of intrigue for much of the season, with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen enjoying a seemingly sudden upturn in pace mid-season which had the Scuderia as favourite for most races between Canada and last week's Russian Grand Prix.

Although the FIA have found nothing illegal on the Ferraris yet, it was revealed in German media that a second sensor would be fitted to monitor their cars at Suzuka, where Mercedes dominated Friday practice – Lewis Hamilton almost a second quicker than Vettel.

Arrivabene denied that incorporating the sensor had cost Ferrari any performance, saving his concerns for the information apparently spilling out of the Maranello team.

Session ended: 36 laps completed for #Seb5, best in 1:29.050 (SS) P3; 33 laps completed for #Kimi7, best in 1:29.498 (SS) P5 #JapaneseGP #FP2 pic.twitter.com/75dBIvGcW6 — Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 5, 2018

"Our battery layout, it's quite complex, so we agreed with the request that we had from the FIA to work together with them and to facilitate their work, and we add a second sensor," Arrivabene told RTL. "But it doesn't change in any case the performance of our car.

"Nothing to do with the speed in the straights, because in Singapore and in Russia, we were quicker.

"We were ahead in Singapore and as I said before in Russia we were nearly like our main competitors.

"Despite that, I think it's strange that everybody knows about the second sensor, because I said that our battery is quite complex, but it's also an intellectual property of Ferrari.

"I hope that because everybody knows about the second sensor, in future, everybody, they're not going to be informed about our project. That could be a serious matter."

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