Mercedes accused of illegal tyre testing by Red Bull & Ferrari

[kfzmeister]

How can the tests be about next year's tires? They haven't even decided what sizes, etc. Besides, i'm sure they'll wanna test with a turbo spec car and that won't happen 'til after June.

This was indeed about tires for this season. Brawn states that none of the other teams were interested in helping Pirelli, so Mercedes did. Pirelli asked numerous times this year. The only thing that Pirelli was to do was to give other teams the same chance and I guess nobody stepped up to the plate.

Correct me if i'm wrong.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I don't believe for a second that RB have been approached. They would have jumped at the chance like a pack of dogs on a three-legged cat. Monisha Kaltenborn of Sauber stated that Sauber has definitely not been asked by Pirelli, so speculation about other teams aside, there appears to be at least one team that was deliberately left in the dark and that's enough for a breach of rules.
Mercedes did nothing wrong. They were asked by Pirelli to show up for a 1.000km test with their current cars and there is a section in the rules, who allows that. They were not responsible for making sure that Pirelli follows the respective section in the rules completely, namely providing the same chance to other teams. It is Pirelli, who broke the rules, not Mercedes.

I think this calls for a little conspiracy theory. This years "tyres" were deliberately weakened at the flanks to stunt cars that generate high downforce and therefore high lateral loads in the corners. Just like FIA used the tire regs in 2005 to slow down Ferrari after 4 years of domination, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this was an attempt to end RB's dominant run. Problem is that unexpectedly Merc got their aero problems sorted out after three years of failure, so they were collateral damage. What was meant to stunt RBR, whacked Merc's car even harder. Now,most in the Bernie camp wouldn't give a rat's arse about a moaning lemonade factory, but nixing the car of a major works team is bad news, so Merc was given an extra test to make up for it. And lo and behold, RBR were still marginal on tyres in Monaco, while Merc weren't. Mission accomplished.

[wmcot]

This is actually a pretty mild thread - can you imagine the outcry if it had been Ferrari and they subsequently won the following race???? This board would be full of hatred and calls for disqualification and accusations of cheating.

The way I see it, it takes two to tango. Pirelli may have been wrong to ask Merc, but Merc were wrong for participating. Some penalty is needed...or give all the other teams 3 days of tests on Pirelli tires.

[AndyL]

Mercedes did nothing wrong. They were asked by Pirelli to show up for a 1.000km test with their current cars and there is a section in the rules, who allows that. They were not responsible for making sure that Pirelli follows the respective section in the rules completely, namely providing the same chance to other teams. It is Pirelli, who broke the rules, not Mercedes.

It's always a good idea to actually read the rules before commenting on them. There's nothing in the F1 regulations that allows this. (You want section 22 of the 2013 F1 sporting regulations.)

The testing regulations govern what the competitors may do, not the tyre supplier. If a team broke the testing restrictions, it's the team that broke the rules, not whoever asked them to do it.

The only way I can see that this is permitted is if the testing was not undertaken by Mercedes but by Pirelli. However since the testing was done using the regular race drivers and personnel, I think this would be hard to justify. Contrast the tyre testing that Renault did for Pirelli in the past, using an old car and with procedures in place to keep the tyre testing operations separate from the race team.


By the way the regulations covering speed under safety car conditions when you're not directly behind it are 40.7, 40.9 and 40.12.

[Ranger]

...but they should be fine.

I think I should take this back. :\ Starting to look very serious.

"Pirelli is entitled under the terms of their agreement with the FIA to offer teams 1000km of tyre testing, subject to each team being treated equally," said the email.

"However there are no provisions within the Sporting Regulations for such testing to take place in-season.

"[FOTA has] spoken with Charlie [Whiting] to confirm the process going forward, and there are two options: 1. ALL teams want to take up Pirelli's offer and this is communicated to the FIA who will amend the Sporting Regulations; or 2. The test takes place out of season (and then the testing agreement comes into play)."

One month before the FOTA clarification, Pirelli wrote to the teams explaining that there was the possibility for 1000km of testing.

It was in this letter, sent by Pirelli to the teams, Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA, that the initial offer for teams to take part in such a test was made.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107726

The only way to address this is if every team now gets 1000km of testing.

I would prefer to see that than see Mercedes get DQ'd, which is starting to look like a possibility.

[Alfa Fan]

Mercedes and it's drivers will need to be thrown out of the championship entirely. It's even more clear cut than "spy-gate".

[BDunnell]

Mercedes and it's drivers will need to be thrown out of the championship entirely. It's even more clear cut than "spy-gate".

But did Merc know it was acting illegally? Apparently not.

And is there a set punishment for such a breach of the rules?

[Alfa Fan]

But did Merc know it was acting illegally? Apparently not.

And is there a set punishment for such a breach of the rules?

Ignorance is not usually mitigation.

I would hope so.

[BDunnell]

Ignorance is not usually mitigation.

In which case, Pirelli needs punishing too.

[christophulus]

Cause the FIA should hire detectives that follow what the teams ad the tire supplier are doing?
No way Jose, the FIA did their job, they set the rules/conditions for such a test to be able to take place, the rest was Pirelli's job to take care, i.e. inform all teams about the test under the agreed FIA conditions then set an official test date. It seems that Pirelli failed to do any of the above. Why? Their are either stupid or they wanted to manipulate F1 a bit more.

True, the FIA set the conditions. But as Brawn said, it should have been fairly obvious to everyone that Mercedes and Pirelli were hanging around after the Spanish GP, and it would have taken someone a matter of seconds to ask what was going on. It should have been equally obvious that Mercedes didn't have a spare trailer lying around with a 2011 car in.

The whole point of having a governing body is that they govern the sport i.e. enforce the rules. Again, it would have taken no time at all to either clarify that Mercedes were OK to test with the current car OR to remind them that they weren't.

I have a funny feeling someone's made a verbal commitment between the FIA and Pirelli, and now there's been an outcry there is now no longer any record of that conversation.

And if we're on conspiracy theories - maybe Pirelli is fed up of not getting the backing from the FIA for making the tyres fall apart faster, which is exactly what they were asked to do, so this is a bit of retaliation?