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An angry Jean-Eric Vergne has accused the FIA of making a “false allegation” by implying that his DS Penske team was effectively spying on its Formula E rivals at Portland.
DS Penske was fined an FE record €25,000 and its drivers Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne ordered to start the Portland E-Prix from the pitlane after its was judged to have installed Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) scanning equipment in the pitlane entry ahead of second practice on Saturday morning. The FIA stated that the offence went against three separate regulatory articles in the sporting, technical and international sporting codes.
Double Formula E champion Vergne poured scorn on the FIA’s language in its official decision bulletin, describing it as “completely wrong” and “utterly false.”
DS Penske is yet to release an official statement on the matter. Its team owner Jay Penske, who is based in nearby California, did not attend its home race.
Before speaking to The Race about the controversy after the race, Vergne had taken to Instagram to object to the officials describing the RFID device as being able to “collect live data from all cars”.
“This is completely wrong, with the system we merely read the serial number of the tyres in order for us to know what tyres are being used by others. Something any team can do (and surely does) by taking photos,” Vergne wrote.
The FIA reissued the penalty bulletin with the word “live” added before “data from all cars” and the phrase “concerning the tyres fitted by scanning the bar codes” struck through.
That rephrasing is what has particularly enraged Vergne.
“It looks like we’re some kind of genius hacker that can access all cars and all the tyres,” he told The Race.
“It’s complete rubbish.
“The truth is, yes we had that machine that should not have been in the pitlane, that I agree with.
“The penalty I think was quite harsh for something like this because at the end of the day all this machine does is to give you the reference number of the tyre, and therefore you know which tyres are being used by which driver. That is the same as every other team doing it, they just don’t use the machine, they use cameras.”
Vergne continued to call out the wording of the bulletin issued by the FIA, saying that “it’s a complete lie to say we had access to live data, it’s completely and utterly false, a false accusation, and it makes us look so bad and it’s damaging the team reputation, our image, everything.
“Frankly I don’t understand it, it’s not the case, we never had access to tyre pressures, to temperatures, to engine efficiency, any things that would result in live data.”
The Race understands that DS Penske did accept the sporting regulatory charge on the grounds of breaking the rule that “competitors are not allowed to install or place any equipment in the pitlane, the track or its surroundings (walls, fences, etc)” but it strongly refuted the suggestion that the RFID device was able to gather anything other than serial numbers from opponents’ tyres.
Vergne appeared to be confused as to why his team had not issued a statement after the infraction which took place before the qualifying period.
“I cannot speak on the team’s behalf. I can only speak on my behalf and what I feel about the situation. I don’t know why the team hasn’t released anything yet because it’s so clear,” he said.
“To be treated like criminals like this is a bit harsh, to be honest.
“Especially the way it’s written because when I read the fans’ comments [on social media], they are angry at us for not the right reason.
“Of course, if we actually had access to all the data of the other teams, then maybe the penalty wouldn’t be harsh enough. But that’s not the case.”
Vergne drove a stellar race, rising from his pitlane start to get into the leading group in the mid-phase of the race after the second safety car.
But his charge was broken when he got hit on the back straight and was forced into a long and grassy excursion which deposited grass and soil into his radiators.
The resulting overheating meant he haemorrhaged energy and he dropped down the field to an eventual 11th place finish. The zero points result for DS Penske was only its second of the season after the second Diriyah race in January.
“It’s a bit sad to do all this hard work, we worked very well, we had a good car and then because of this kind of racing that is a complete mess…” Vergne said.
“Honestly, I cannot even know [who it was who hit me], and I’m not even mad at him but there was so much going on, four cars side by side, it’s a weird kind of racing.”
