FIA decision (Mercedes & Pirelli)

[TeaLeaf]

http://www.fia.com/international-tribunal-0


http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/press_release/file/(IT-2013-01)-Decision%20(EN).pdf

Decision of the International Tribunal

The Tribunal, after having heard the parties and examined their submissions, decided that:

Mercedes be reprimanded;
Mercedes be suspended from participating in the forthcoming “three day young driver training test”;
Pirelli be reprimanded.
and rejected all other and further conclusions.

Bodes well for the tyre contract for 2014 seeing as Pirelli don't even see themselves as governed by the FIA rules and have no contractual obligation.

Also interesting to see that the Mercedes-suggested punishment was adopted, which means the FIA did not really seriously believe much wrong was done as other penalties could have been very much more severe.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Word on the street ... If Mercedes were to get any race penalty they were pulling out of the championship. Some guff about the exposure putting the name into ill repute. That may go some way to what i think seems a very light slap on the wrist

If Mercedes thought they were doing no wrong why did the drivers not wear any item to distinguish who they were. Who was testing? "Oh it must be the Stig"

Spooky the race after the testing showed a big improvement in the Tyre problems they had in previous races. It could be a load of other reasons but it throws up a question mark

[TeaLeaf]

Spooky the race after the testing showed a big improvement in the Tyre problems they had in previous races. It could be a load of other reasons but it throws up a question mark

I think it was other reasons tbh, even before the test everyone expected them to do way better at Monaco as it is a front-limited rather than rear-limited circuit, so the Mercedes tyre-wear issue would have been a non-issue in Monaco anyway.

Not sure Mercedes actually got a benefit from the test either, if you don't know what tyre you are on and the compounds are for next year and not this and you're driving to a Pirelli program then what can you gain other than reliability data?

[Snokio]

It's a pathetic outcome really, they used their 2 frontline drivers wearing black helmets 'for security reasons' was naughty, but for 'not making other teams aware of the test' is a little weak

Redbull might come under fire, allegations of using traction control been going around:

http://jalopnik.com/has-red-bull-figured-out-how-to-cheat-f1s-traction-con-514107361

[TeaLeaf]

It seems there is a little more to it than we know, as the FIA confirmed that:

-Mercedes acted in good faith at all times
-Pirelli acted in good faith at all times
-costs were awarded equally against all three parties: the FIA, Mercedes & Pirelli

The final point seems to confirm that whilst there was a technical breach of the regulations, it was done with de facto authority from FIA personel, (perhaps the Charlie Whiting email & the email from the FIA's in-house counsel?) and that nobody had tried to hide anything.

Personally I think that Mercedes were reckless to use the 2013 car as it is clearly going to annoy other teams.   However they might have legitimately believed that with Pirelli having a contractual right to hold such a test in s'special circumstances' that this contractual right, combined with the 'FIA authority' made it ok.  After all, they told the FIA and they seemed to say it was ok - the only bit that seems to have gone wrong is that all the other teams should also have been invited too, which is a Pirelli issue not a Mercedes issue.   Keep in mind that Pirelli have consistently said that they *did* offer the test to other teams earlier in the year but that their response was "how much will Pirelli pay us to do the testing" whereas Mercedes said "yes we'll do it".  

Remember that Pirelli are not signatories to the Sporting Regs, so a contractual right for Pirelli to hold a test is clear.

The secrecy argument I'm just not buying.   You just can't hold an F1 test without people knowing!

-the Barcelona circuit is fairly close to the city and F1 cars are audible from as far away as the NE parts of Barcelona and the circuit itself is in the middle of Montmelo alongside a main north/south arterial route into the Barcelona city.      
-it also beggars belief that Red Bull team (and other F1 teams) did not notice that whilst everyone else in the pitlane was stripping down their garage and packing away the pit paraphenalia to send it to the F1-shared air transportation, that the Mercedes team did nothing and did not send anything onto the flight.
-Mercedes asked the FIA that they were going to participate in a Pirelli test and got an 'authorisation' for it from Whiting/FIA counsel.

These facts alone, when considered with the light penalty and shared costs seem to me to indicate that it's the FIA who have egg all over their face, not Mercedes or Pirelli.    

As a slight aside, I think Horner is going OTT on this one.   Does he have a personal history with Mercedes or Brawn for some reason?   No other team bothered attend and listen to the hearing, but Horner did.  His comments seem to focus on the "the FIA say they broke the rules" and not the rest of the argument at all, which is typical F1 'one side of the story' marketing spin.   He seems more angry than the other teams for some reason and I'm wondering what's grinding his groin.  Anyone know?


___
Re the traction control, I think the general consensus was that the video did not show a traction control system as that's not the type of tyre pattern it would leave?

[TeaLeaf]

Interestingly it has transpired that Ferrari not only tested legally this year (with a 2011 car) but last year too, during which test they exceeded the 1,000km limit set by the FIA thus breaking the Sporting Reg.   I wonder what their punishment will be.......oh, wait, they have a veto on punishments so ignore me.

[T-Bag]

Spooky the race after the testing showed a big improvement in the Tyre problems they had in previous races. It could be a load of other reasons but it throws up a question mark

The did better the race after because they drove incredibly slowly around a circuit with minimal opportunity for overtaking and has different demands on the tyres.

As for the punishment. If they did indeed have an email from Charlie Whiting giving them the OK before the test the punishment could hardly be made particularly harsh. The other teams would have been well aware of what was going on. I'm sure some teams left someone to keep an eye on proceedings.