Mercedes/Pirelli International Tribunal - Decision Friday

[mikhailv]

Yeah. But I dont see how a 2013 car with 2013 race drivers testing 2013 tyresis legal in any way, shape or form. Anyone witha brain knows that.

[mikhailv]

Brundle just asked hembrey about it; Testing stuff for next year.

yet no contract. No confirmation. Brawn said it was safety for 2013.....

[Treacle]

Yeah. But I dont see how a 2013 car with 2013 race drivers testing 2013 tyres is legal in any way, shape or form. Anyone with a brain knows that.

This.
I don't care about the tyres as long as they fix the delaminations (if there is something to fix on their part). But it's not fair if they let a team test for 3 days with their current car.

[phil1993]

Oops
http://t.co/KGIzHBe4eb

[donald29]

So the FIA weren't fully informed. Very interesting.

[TwistedArmco]

Ross Brawn: "The test was exactly what Pirelli wanted, they stipulated what we were doing."

"We know they have a new tyre for Canada, but we don't know which of the tyres they tested was the tyre that they are bringing along to Canada. The tyres they tested were anonymous. It is not possible for us to know, because the tyres just had codes on - tyre Code A, tyre Code B."

"It wasn't a secret test. I am not sure where it comes from because it was a Pirelli test."

"It was up to Pirelli to spread the information. It wasn't up to us, it was their test."

"Pirelli has been asking teams to help them out for 12 months and people haven't been supporting them, so there are lots of communications between Pirelli and teams asking them to do 1000km for them."

"We obviously had an issue in Bahrain with Lewis [Hamilton] which we were quite anxious about – and we made the effort to help them. Nobody else seems to have done that."

Quotes from autosport, and kept separate, because I am unsure how related or togther they're meant to be and I don't want to present them in the wrong context.


Hmm, call me cynical, but surely Merc was taking telemetry readings. And you know, keeping them and stuff. Rather than just doing a thousand miles testing just to be helpful. I would find it hard to believe they didn't tweak setups at all. So maybe when they get the Canada onwards style tyres, perhaps they might be able to go: "Oh, this looks a little bit like tyre code B."

They might try to present themselves as test rats, but there's a whole team of people at Merc designed to work out problems and put two and two together. I don't really see how they could gain absolutely nothing out of it, so on that basis, it seems unfair. Also, I'm surprised that (if Pirelli were asking the teams for this help) Ferrari or Red Bull weren't jumping at the chance. Seems a little bit like Merc might have done one here.

[F1EA]

That sucks for several reasons. First, it will bring more unnecessary controversy to Pirelli. Second, Tyre type A or B will be darn easy to match or adjust to any other compound... Merc has engineers who know what they are doing; i'd be surprised if they dont already know which is which. It's not 2014 compounds.

And third... if Pirelli has to 'beg' for teams to help.. It means theres something fundamentally wrong with the way the tires are developed. I dont care much about it, but it is lame.

[mikhailv]

Merc introduced a new suspension this weekend which worked perfect. No teething problems. Maybe 1000km sorted it. The whole code thing is bull.

drivers now how tyres feel and react.

[phil1993]

Good points from Gary Hartstein. This will be very political:

"Another point is Bernie. 1) I bet Daimler has already told Bernie they won't accept a huge fine etc. 2) big probs if no tire supplier soon. Presumably Mr. E will use this as weapon against JT. Perhaps merc will fund a candidate against him?"

[mikhailv]

We all know everyones scared to challenge the germans in politics. I hope Ferrari make their own seperate series with v10s. Screw this farce

[donald29]

Can you imagine the reaction if this had happened last year with Schumacher doing the testing?

[phil1993]

Here's how I see the main issues
- Were all 11 teams asked?
- Was the W04 allowed?
- As it was meant to be Pirelli run, why were Nico/Lewis driving?

[François]

Good! We hadn't had a proper F1 scandal for a couple seasons. Let's hope I have enough popcorn for this one.

Seriously, though, this is terrible for the sport. Critical for Pirelli who were coming under heavy fire before this even started and who don't yet have a contract for next year, and a tad embarrassing for Mercedes, whose long-term commitment to the sport still looks very much uncertain.

Conspiracy Keanu would probably say this might just be the chance to get rid of Ross Brawn Mercedes were waiting for.

[donald29]

I think the answer to 1 is a categoric no.

Ross Brawn says teams could see them not packing away in Spain, which is a fair point. But why, with all the talk of tyres, did no one mention the test in interviews? That is the main thing that makes this look bad for me, the lack of transparency.

[phil1993]

This could be the tipping point that sends F1 over the edge. It's been brewing.

Stuttgart will not like this. Neither will Pirelli. Still no Concorde Agreement, most teams in financial problems + most heavy revenue deals expire end 2015.