The FIA has warned F1 teams that any attempt to exploit special engine modes to purposefully enhance exhaust flow towards a car’s main wing will not be permitted.

On the back of Renault’s 2018 design, which features an angled exhaust directed towards the heat-shielded leading edge of the rear wing of its R.S.18, teams have questioned the legality of the French team’s concept.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting has confirmed however that Renault’s layout complies with F1’s technical rules – although many suggest the scheme is certainly not in the spirit of said rules.

The governing body has now made clear that special engine modes, such as the off-throttle blowing which prevailed between 2010 and 2013, shall not be tolerated this year.

• Renault unfazed by blown wing illegality claims

Whiting has given the green light to Renault’s approach, but insists he will be particularly attentive to engine usage this year.

“I think it is absolutely minimal what they [Renault] will get from it,” said Whiting told Motorsport.com.

“I don’t see any problem with it provided we are sure they are not operating their engine in a false mode – a mode that wouldn’t be normal.

“We have to accept that there is and always has been some exhaust effect, but obviously in 2012/2013 it was massive.

“We’ve chipped away at that and one of the things for the 2014 [turbo hybrid] rules was to make sure there was no effect from the exhaust – but there must be a little one.

“We will have to deal with that, and we will see during the course of the year whether we need to do something to minimise that.”

Whiting admitted that this year’s ban on monkey seats, the small rear wing structure which helps direct the exhaust flow towards the main wing, hasn’t deterred designers from exploiting the blown wing concept.

“We were concerned with exhaust blowing last year,” said Whiting.

“With the wings becoming 150mm lower than they were in 2016, there was more benefit to be gained.

“That is why we put the exhaust pipe in the middle and with a minimum angle. Teams managed to build monkey seats, which we managed to get rid of by changing the bodywork regulations.

“But there was still a little window of opportunity. You know what teams are like: if you take one thing away they will try to get 10 percent of what they had. But they will still do it.”

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An unfamiliar energy drinks company sprung out of the woodwork in February claiming it was leading a deal to take over Force India for $ 280 million, but Rich Energy’s plans – if they ever existed – have fizzled just as fast as they appeared.

The company, which no one had ever heard of before its flashy PR/fake news stunt, apparently develops and markets an “innovative and elite energy drink for the discerning customer”.

A bit too “discerning” perhaps as we couldn’t come across anyone who has ever seen a can of Rich Energy in the metal, let alone tasted the so-called premium kool-aid.

Needless to say, despite Rich Energy’s series of shameless F1 advertorials which went from “…in talks to buy Forced India” to “… a deal is expected next week” over the course of a few days, the good folk of Force India had more important matters to tend to.

Force India’s Andy Stevenson needs your support for a good cause

Over the decades, Formula 1 has always drawn its fair share of eccentric or shady wannabes. Whether they were swindlers , liars or megalomaniacs, or just gentle dreamers, they all sought a piece of Grand Prix racing’s glitz and glamour before their fall from grace.

Rich Energy’s CEO is one William Storey, a man as little-known as the product he claims to sell, and whose hirsute, bearded countenance would blend in more appropriately at the Burning Man event than in an F1 paddock.

Coincidently, while we’re on the subject of imposters, Storey reminds us of the infamous and bizarre Belgian quack, Jean-Pierre van Rossem, who “owned” the Onyx F1 team back in 1989.

Van Rossem was the inventor of ‘Moneytron’, a computer programme that could supposedly predict trends in the stock market and yield endless returns. And the trick did work for a time, as plenty of wealthy investors bought into the concept.

Van Rossem made the most of the growing success of his ponzi scheme, offering himself a proper F1 team until reality kicked in and his investors caught on.

The team eventually folded and van Rossem was sentenced to prison for his scams, but then embraced a political career in his home country, launching his own ROSSEM party, with little success.

As for the curious case of William Storey and Rich Energy, we just can’t wait to see what the future will bring us in terms of excuses or reasons why the purchase of the team has been… “delayed”.

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Marcus Ericsson believes Sauber could improve its position in F1’s mid-field if it succeeds in unlocking more speed form its C37 in qualifying.

Thanks to Charles Leclerc’s efforts last weekend in Baku, the Swiss outfit achieved its best result since 2015.

Team boss Fred Vasseur insisted however that Sauber’s car was well-suited to the specific low-drag street circuit thanks to its powerful engine, warning that the story could be very different next week in Barcelona.

Ericsson has focused his attention on the C37’s difficulties in coping with Pirelli’s softest compounds, a weakness that has weighed on the team’s performance in the all-important Saturday afternoon session.

Change of style at the basis of Leclerc’s improved performance

“It’s clear we are struggling more over one lap than on race pace. We are still struggling with the softer compounds,” he said.

“I really feel confident that if we have good track position for the race, starting in the mix, we can have strong races.

“That’s for me the main priority now that we need to find an extra bit of performance on Saturday because I really feel on Sundays we have a good car to fight the midfield.”

While he was outperformed al weekend by his team mate in Azerbaijan, Ericsson was still buoyed by Leclerc’s result which offered a glimpse of Sauber’s potential.

“Charles’ pace was really strong compared to the cars around him,” he added.

“But obviously these days you need a good starting position. We need to analyse, work hard and analyse how we can take a step on Saturdays.

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“Charles did a very good job in qualifying but still I think we are stronger for sure in the race.”

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It was an action-packed Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, and we have the pictures to prove it!

Browse through our Sunday gallery.

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Honda F1 boss Toyoharu Tanabe isn’t giving anything away about the Japanese manufacturer’s potential plans involving Red Bull Racing for 2019.

An FIA May 15 deadline by which the Milton Keynes-based outfit must finalise its power unit plans for next year is fast approaching, with current supplier Renault unwilling to wait forever on its partner’s decision.

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Red Bull is keeping its options open with Honda however as it monitors the engine manufacturer’s progress with junior bull team Toro Rosso.

Honda’s relationship with the Faenza-based outfit enjoyed a promising start, with clear progress made by its V6 hybrid engine in terms of reliability and power.

Honda vows to keep ‘climbing steps’, until it wins!

“Toro Rosso is open to new ideas and listens to us attentively,” Tanabe told France’s Auto Hebdo.

“We listen to them just as carefully. Together we’re working hard to achieve our goal.”

However, when asked how the Red Bull talks are proceeding, Tanabe was guarded.

“I’m focused on this season and on the technical partnership with Toro Rosso. As for everything else, decisions are made in the top management of Honda.”

Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost is equally happy with Honda’s achievements to date. Also, rather than implementing significant updates over the course of the season, the Italian squad follows an incremental approach for developing its STR13 chassis.

“Other teams work with two or three major updates per season,” Tost told Speed Week.

“We pursue a different philosophy. We want to make the car faster every time we make small improvements.”

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Whatever you do, don’t think about David Cameron and a dead pig. I know, I know it’s like trying not to think of an elephant, but the fact is that the allegations that the Prime Minister may have put a ‘private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s mouth as part of an initiation ritual for an elite drinking society at Oxford University are actually a very serious matter, and it’s all about corruption and the nature of elected power, and it would help if we could all just calm down for a second and stop giggling. Don’t think I don’t see you at the back there.

You know, I feel for David Cameron today, I really do. Politicians’ private sex lives should never be used against them – unless their particular proclivities implicate them in gross hypocrisy or they have harmed another human being. If the rumours are true, it’s unlikely that the pig in question was hurt by the Prime Minister’s ministrations, given that it was already missing its limbs and torso.

Sniggering aside, this is unlikely to hurt David Cameron in the long run. He’s not looking for re-election, and besides, everyone knows posh people get up to weird sex stuff. Weird sex stuff is as British as weak tea and racism. When I was at Oxford, it was an open secret that the posh kids had naughty parties, and, of course, so did the rest of us – the difference was the much lower budget, and the fact that the posh kids didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as we did. It all seemed to be more about getting on than getting off. You didn’t shag or not shag the pig’s face because that was what you were into, you did it because you had your eye on a safe seat in Dorset in 20 years’ time and you needed to make the right friends.

There is a reason that David Cameron is allowed to hold office when everyone assumes he spent the 1980s taking drugs and getting up to weird things with his Eton mates, but Jeremy Corbyn is considered unelectable because he didn’t sing the national anthem last week. Cameron is part of a select group of people to whom different rules apply, and he knows it, and his friends know it, and the tabloids know it, and the whole cosy British political machine knows it. This is why Corbyn will spend the next five years being savaged for having a slightly rumpled tie by the same newspapers that reported on the dead pig allegations under the title “the making of an extraordinary Prime Minister”.

The thing that’s really horrifying about what has already been dubbed the ‘Hameron’ scandal is that it demonstrates what entitlement of this kind actually means, and how embarrassing it all is. There are people out there who can spend their early twenties in close proximity to cocaine and popping their peckers in offal and not even consider for a second that there might be anyone better placed to run the country. These are people who know the rules don’t apply to them, who know they can do whatever they want and still end up in charge. 

After fulfilling their media duties on Thursday, teams and drivers got down to business Friday morning in Azerbaijan.

Check out our gallery of the day’s action at scenic Baku.

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The father and son duo of Lawrence and Lance Stroll remain committed to Williams for the future despite the massive under-performance of the team’s troubled FW41.

The Grove-based outfit has been nowhere near holding its own at the top end of Formula 1’s mid-field since the season got underway in Melbourne.

Lance Stroll salvaged four points in Baku last month, the team’s total tally so far, but the feat was the result of circumstances and favourable terrain for Williams.

However, the bitter disappointment linked to the FW41 and the difficulties in pulling the team out of the doldrums haven’t yet enticed the Stroll family to search for an alternative to Williams for 2019.

“We’re not there yet,” Stroll Sr told Motorsport.com in Spain.

“I believe in Williams, I believe in the team. Clearly they got it wrong so far.

“I do believe this is a rude awakening, and hopefully it will bring the best out of the people, and they’ll fix it. I’m sure not as quick as we’d like, and not as quick as they’d like either.

Williams issues can’t be fixed in 24 hours – Kubica

“But we’re not going anywhere else,” he insisted.

“Obviously the car clearly isn’t where we hoped and wanted to be, it’s quite a way off. We struggled when we came here for testing, and we’re still struggling. So it’s pretty apparent to the eye what’s wrong with the car.

“I gather everyone is trying their best, there’s a great sense of urgency in the team. It’s not that they don’t recognise the problem, everybody does.

“A blind person could see the problem. I know they’re working hard to fix it.”

Assessing his son’s performance year-to-date, Lawrence Stroll casts a positive view, underling Lance’s 100 percent finishing record and the 19-year-old’s consistently gritty opening laps.

“I think his performance, based on the car he has, has been phenomenal,” said the Canadian billionaire.

“This was his fifth great race. He can’t qualify the car much better than where he qualifies it, but he does amazingly well on that opening lap.

“I think he’s beaten his teammate all five times, and beaten a lot of people that the car is not capable of beating. So from a performance point of view with Lance, we couldn’t be happier,” he added.

“Obviously we’d like a better car to be at the front of the grid! But with the equipment he has, I don’t think he could be doing a better job.”

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A rehabilitated Romain Grosjean followed up his promising qualifying performance with a splendid fourth-place finish in the Austrian Grand Prix, achieving his first points of the season and Haas’ best ever F1 result.

In a year marked by misfortune and mishaps, the French driver steered clear of trouble on Sunday, producing a difficult but fine drive that enabled him to outrace team mate Kevin Magnussen and conclude his day as ‘best of the rest’.

It was a long time coming for Grosjean who expressed a sigh of relief when all was said and done.

“Definitely feeling better than we have been recently,” he enthused.

“It is great, our 50th Grand Prix, finishing P4 and P5, a best ever result for the team.

Verstappen’s dramatic home win for Red Bull amid Mercedes nightmare

“I got a lot of criticism but the team has always been behind me but this weekend was just what we wanted to stop that negative spiral and eventually try and go back to a positive one.

“It was mainly for me and my boys and for my team. Here we are and showing that we can still do some really good racing.

“Obviously I feel better now, I am happy that we are starting to get some luck and I feel for Lewis [Hamilton] and Valtteri [Bottas] and Daniel [Ricciardo] but it was just places we could get.

“Just going back home and knowing my boys are proud of me, it makes me go ‘Yes!’.”

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