In the past there were several tricks like the McLaren third pedal which were legal but not in the spirit of the regulations or the traction control system from Benneton which was hidden under a secret menu option.
Recently Mercedes came up with a clever way of how their cars could corner which was legal and activated by pushing/pulling on the steering wheel.
It was banned the next season though - you can be clever but cheating is not allowed - the loss of face - loss of points and money and prestige is severe now.
Since they all use the same control electronics, the FIA gets real time telemetry send to them to watch for any funky tricks and wind tunnel usage time, and activity like in engine mapping modes (no changes allowed when a race starts) or fuel pump manipulation.
They want teams to be at least on a level field so a smaller team has a realistic change of competing and scoring points like HAAS or Williams.