The current FIA president and former Ferrari boss Jean Todt is said to have announced in a letter to the seven protesting teams that he personally initiated the deal with Ferrari.

The Daily Mail from England reports that Todt is said to have written in the letter in response to the questions of the seven teams (all without Ferrari engines) that he had consulted with Formula 1 boss Chase Carey on the matter – which Carey has (so far) denied. Carey himself had put on record that he and his colleagues from Liberty Media “had no part” in the investigation, its results or the agreement between Ferrari and the FIA.

Todt’s answer is unlikely to have brought much joy to any non-Ferrari driven team, the so-called “Gang of Seven”. It can be heard that the teams will now continue to consult each other on how they will proceed in the matter.

One of the reasons why a disqualification of Ferrari would be so interesting for the other teams is that it would redistribute the prize money for the 2019 season and some teams would receive many millions more.