F1 News
Date: 7/June/2013
On paper, Mercedes should have arrived for this weekend’s
Canadian Grand Prix on the crest of a wave.
A ‘Silver Arrow’ has taken pole position for the last four
events and Nico Rosberg swept to the team’s first victory of the season last
time in Monaco, the most prestigious event of the year.
But just before that race the paddock was rocked by news of
a ‘secret’ - or ‘private’ - Pirelli test session by Mercedes after the previous
Spanish round.
Mercedes insist such tyre tests are allowed within the
rules, but rival teams were livid that a 2013 car as well as race drivers
Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had taken part.
The veil of secrecy - intended or otherwise - has only added
to the suspicions and following a protest by Ferrari and Red Bull at Monaco the
FIA has announced a Tribunal to formally investigate the test.
Speaking in Montreal on Friday, Mercedes Team Principal Ross
Brawn said: “The matter has been passed on to the international Tribunal. They
will meet presumably in the next few weeks to determine the facts of the case.
“Obviously we felt we were in a position to be able to do
the Pirelli test - it was a Pirelli test, it’s very important to note that -
and so the Tribunal will be the time at which all the information will become
available.
“A couple of points I would make: there has been an
unfortunate branding of the ‘secret’ test. It was a private test. It wasn’t a
secret test. I think anyone who believes you can got to Barcelona and do three
days of testing, or 1000km of testing, and not have anyone become aware of it
is naïve.
“It was a private test, not a secret test and sporting
integrity is very, very important to us. Very important to Mercedes. And I
think when the facts become apparent then people can make a better judgment of
the situation.”
The test had followed a particularly bad race for Mercedes
in terms of tyres, with Rosberg and Hamilton dropping from first and second on
the Barcelona grid to sixth and twelfth.
Brawn insisted the aim of the test had been to help Pirelli
solve ‘safety’ issues in terms of tyre delamination.
“I can certainly say that the decision was based in no way
on the track performance that we had,” said Brawn. “I think everyone in Formula
One is concerned about some of the delamination that we’ve seen, so I think that’s
a worthy objective. Certainly nothing to do with the performance of the car,
because nothing was aimed at addressing that.”
But with F1 testing heavily restricted, Christian Horner -
Team Manager of the title-leading Red Bull outfit - found it impossible to
believe that Mercedes had not directly benefitted.
“The way Formula One is with the amount of technology and
the amount of data analysis there is, you’re always learning,” he said. “Whether
it be reliability, whether it be endurance, whether it be performance. Even if
you’re testing a component for a supplier, you’re learning.
“I think Formula One has moved an awfully long way over the
last few years to ensure fairness and equality to all of the entrants. I think
that if a team does carry out 1000km of additional testing with a current car,
you’re going to learn something.”
Had other teams been aware of the test in advance, the
present situation may not have arisen.
“I think the lack of transparency is disappointing. That you
get to learn these things second hand,” said Horner. “I think it is important
that there is transparency, of course. If a supplier has issues then it needs
to obviously deal with them but when all entrants are supposedly equal, it’s
only right and proper that information is made transparently clear.”
The key defence for Mercedes is rumoured to be an email from
FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting giving the go-ahead for the test.
Asked about the existence of such evidence, Brawn replied: “The
e-mail, I don’t want to comment on any matters of that sort that relate to
what’s going to come through in the Tribunal.”
The main differences between the Mercedes test and a
previous Pirelli test with Ferrari were the use of a 2013 car and the current
race drivers.
“In terms of running the race drivers, in any form of
testing, apart from the young drivers’ test, there’s no control or limitation
on the type of driver you have in the car, so it was natural for us to use the
drivers we have,” commented Brawn. “We wanted the most representative
conditions we could for the Pirelli test, it was as simple as that.”
However it has emerged that Rosberg and Hamilton did not
wear their usual helmet designs at the test.
"The reason for the drivers' helmets is it was a
Pirelli test, they organised the security, they organised all the arrangements.
We didn't want to have to bring security or minders. The easiest way for us was
to not bring attention to what drivers were in the car. It was only for those
reasons.”
With the Tribunal and a potential unspecified punishment
looming there is no doubt that pressure is mounting on Brawn, with rumours that
his own position could be under threat should the verdict go against Mercedes.
“It’s not very pleasant, but that’s motor racing. I’ve been
in it a long time, and I’ve been through these periods before,” The Englishman
said of the present situation.
“There have been rumours before [about Brawn’s future at
Mercedes] and nothing’s happened. I think we should say let’s wait and see what
the Tribunal find and then we can go from there.
“It was my decision to do the test, so that’s a fact and
let’s see what occurs at the Tribunal and we go from there.”
Hamilton was a close second fastest to Ferrari’s Fernando
Alonso during Friday practice in Canada, with Rosberg in fifth. Red Bull
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel was seventh fastest, but within half a
second of Alonso.
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