Engine management software FIA press release

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE L'AUTOMOBILE (FIA)

The following information was sent to all Formula One Team Principals and Technical Directors by the FIA Formula One Technical Delegate, Charlie Whiting on 27 July 1994:

FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Article 2.6 Formula One Technical Regulations

On 26 July 1994, the FlA World Motor Sport Council unanimously decided as follows:

1. Before the German Grand Prix, we will require each team to state whether or not the computer systems fitted to its cars contain any feature which might infringe the current technical or sporting regulations including, but not limited to, traction control, automatic start systems and power modification systems of the kind described in our note of 20 April 1994.

2. If your computer systems do contain such features but they have been disabled, we shall require precise details of each such system and the steps which have been taken to disable it. If you are in any doubt as to whether any of your systems might breach the regulations, you must declare them and provide details so that we can give a ruling. Following the Belgian Grand Prix, all such features must be eliminated from the computer systems on your cars. If, at the Italian or subsequent grands prix, we find such a system in one of your cars, we shall assume it is there to be used and the Stewards or the FIA will act accordingly.

3. You will also be required to show that no such features are loaded into volatile memory that can be erased before any components are examined.

4. If we decide to investigate the electronic systems in your car, we shall require you to provide us with all source codes, as well as with such other information about your systems as our experts may feel is necessary. We shall also require source codes to all communications programs, including those of external equipment connected to the car on the start grid, to be made available. Source codes and other information must be made available in a form and to a schedule specified by us. Teams will also have to make available for use by FlA investigators all the compilers and linkage programs and program libraries that are needed to build the machine code program that are equivalent to the source code presented.

5. We may need access to source codes and programs for several days. We reserve the right either to examine them in independent laboratories or, if you so request, in such conditions on your premises as we may specify. Requests for codes, programs and other information must be complied with immediately and prior to the next Event.

If we undertake a second or subsequent investigation into a particular team's computer systems, then the source code of the previous investigation must be available for comparison.

In order to make our investigations easier and quicker, we will require each team to implement the following no later than the Hungarian Grand Prix:

i) The software loaded onto the computer systems must have an upload capability. This will enable reading of the contents of the computer units in a non-destructive manner.

ii) The software loaded onto the computer systems and the communications software must have a unique version number or numbers that can be shown to correspond to the source code.

Information acquired by the FIA, its employees, agents, officers or members in connection with the enforcement of the Formula One Technical Regulations will be treated as confidential and will not be revealed to any third party except insofar as may be necessary to enable the FIA to satisfy itself that such Regulations have been observed or to decide on any penalty if not so satisfied. The FIA will procure that any third party to whom such information may be revealed will also treat such information as confidential.

The only outside agency which will be given access to the information referred to above is LDRA Ltd.: The information handled by this company on behalf of the its clients involves high value confidential and sensitive computer software. Teams can have complete confidence that their source codes will be safe.