By Simon Wright
The French
capital of Paris has recently played host to an international tribunal which
could have had major implications on the Formula One season for 2013.
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| The FIA tribunal virtually cleared Mercedes in 'Testgate' |
Petronas AMG
Mercedes F1, whose factory is based in Brackley, Northamptonshire were in the
dock over an alleged illegal tyre test they had conducted with Pirelli just
days after the Spanish Grand Prix in May.
The Italian tyre supplier was also told to face the summons at the FIA
International Tribunal (logo pictured).
Discussions,
defence and remonstrations were held in a highly charged environment on
Thursday, so much so that journalists were not allowed to use Twitter to update
fans during the evidence that was given.
On Friday,
the verdict was handed down. Mercedes
were found in breach of sporting regulations, and were reprimanded along with
being banned from competing in the Silverstone Young Drivers’ Test.
However, they
escaped a hefty fine, points deductions or even race bans for what seemingly
seems to be gaining a blatant advantage.
So, why did the penalty feel like no punishment at all, and where does it leave the FIA, Mercedes and
Pirelli as the sport regroups at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix next
weekend.
Background
For those not
in the knowledge of why it went this far, it all started after a difficult
weekend for both Pirelli and Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix. Mercedes suffered from chronic tyre wear, as
their cars dropped from the front row lockout they took in qualifying to a very
uncompetitive sixth place for Nico Rosberg and 12th for Lewis
Hamilton.
Pirelli
themselves were heavily criticised (including by yours truly) for tyres that
could barely last three laps around Barcelona before they started graining and
delaminating on a couple of occasions, including once in the race for Jean-Eric
Vergne. Afterwards, they wanted to do a
tyre test and Mercedes agreed to help them out.
While others
teams packed up, Mercedes stayed behind at the Circuit de Catalunya, and did a
three-day test with their 2013 drivers in a 2013 car.
News of this
broke when Rosberg mentioned the test to world champion Sebastian Vettel at the
GPDA meeting in Monaco.
Vettel told
his team and as more information came out, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari made a
joint protest on the morning of the race around the streets of Monte Carlo,
claiming that Mercedes were in breach of the FIA Sporting Regulations, which
prohibits in-season testing after the first week in March until the end of the
season.
Mercedes
claimed they had received permission from the FIA. Although they claimed to have written
documents, the FIA stated this wasn’t the case.
After a stewards meeting after the Monaco Grand Prix, which Rosberg won convincingly
for Mercedes, the case was sent to a tribunal on 20 June.
Counter Punch
The teams
moved onto Canada, which Red Bull team boss Christian Horner used strong words
such as ‘foul’ and even stating Mercedes were guilty of a ‘crime.’ It later turned out Ferrari had done their
own tyre test after April’s Bahrain Grand Prix, though this was with a 2011 car
and thus were cleared of any wrongdoing.
In public,
Horner kept suggesting all they wanted was clarity on the whole situation. Deep down, his body language suggested he
wanted a big penalty applied against one of his team’s major rivals.
Other teams
kept quiet. Lotus were lobbied by Red
Bull to join the protest, but refused as they had been unhappy with earlier instances
regarding technical decisions in the past year.
McLaren stayed out of the mess, as they have their own problems sorting
out a car that is so bad, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez would probably do
better performing in a barbershop quartet!
So the evidence
started to unravel at the tribunal hearing.
Mercedes claimed that they had gained no benefit from doing the 1,000km
test, and team principal Ross Brawn stated they had verbal permission from
regular FIA race director Charlie Whiting to use their 2013 car.
They did
admit that by using plain helmets to discard the use of race drivers was the
wrong thing to do, and apologised for that and clearly stated that the test was
at Pirelli’s request, and it was to solve concerns over tyre safety which have
dogged this championship.
The FIA’s
response was they had received no written consent from Mercedes to do the test,
and were unaware of the situation Pirelli had got themselves into. Thursday also concluded with Mercedes
offering a compromise of being banned for the Young Drivers’ Test to try and
negate any potential advantage they had.
Verdict surprise
The general
reaction I received from text messages from friends who follow the sport on
Friday were one of surprise and disappointment.
Journalists seemed surprised by the leninent action too.
Most were
suspecting of at least a points deduction from the constructors’ championship
or even expulsion from that championship for 2013. This result is perfect for Mercedes – and not
only keep Ross Brawn’s integrity intact, it keeps him in a job.
If Mercedes
were found guilty, the man who worked so brilliantly with Michael Schumacher
throughout his first career, and spearheaded the fairytale Brawn story in 2009
from the ashes of Honda would surely have paid the price at Mercedes.
As reported
by BBC Sport, Brawn said: "We have a blemish-free record here and it was
very important to Mercedes that the facts of this case were understood.
"It does
sometimes strengthen your resolve rather than weaken it but now it's cleared
away we can concentrate on the rest of the year,"
In their own
statement, the FIA commented: "The FIA wishes that lessons are learnt from this case and from the decision handed down. To this end, the FIA will make sure, in association with all F1 teams, that its control of the testings' is strengthened."
No consistency
In the
immediate aftermath of the verdict, I thought the whole episode had been a
complete waste of everyone’s time and money, and it is not fair for Grand Prix
racing.
No matter the
reasons of the test, Mercedes used a 2013 car which is strictly against the
regulations. This was even admitted by
the tribunal, but the punishment is pretty unfair on the other teams. Mercedes have
done an illegal test – there’s no getting away from it in my view and the book
could and well should have been thrown at them.
A race ban
was potentially there, although if that was applied – could you have imagined
the reaction of the British fans if Hamilton hadn’t been allowed to start his
home race next week? That would have
been brave to do in the circumstances, as an appeal would almost certainly have been
made.
A fairer
penalty would have been a deduction of constructors’ points – at least from the
two most recent races after the test, or prohibited to score points in the next
three events. It is a team issue, so the
drivers should be cleared and made free to race.
The FIA’s
rule-making system is not fair – there is no consistency. Other penalties such as BAR using fuel as
ballast in 2005 and the ‘Spygate’ controversy of 2007 have ended with far more
serious penalties.
Mercedes have
come out of the whole episode smiling.
Red Bull and Ferrari wanted clarity, and that is something that they
haven’t really got I think. Both seem to
have grudgingly accepted the verdict, probably the right thing to do so the
fans can concentrate on the racing.
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| Pirelli's named has been tarnished in F1 2013 and rightly so |
As for
Pirelli (tyres pictured), they've lost total control of the tyre situation in the sport.
Why they don't have their own test car is bewildering. They had one last year, with former F1 pilots
Lucas di Grassi and Jaime Alguersuari doing tyre testing. Why have they not got one this year? No matter if it is a financial problem, this
is their mess and Formula One is in a difficult place.
With
Bridgestone not willing to supply tyres again until the recession ends, and
Goodyear and Continental recently stating no interest in a return, the FIA’s determination to hound
Michelin out of the sport at the end of 2006 has come back to haunt them.
We are now stuck with a tyre supplier who
might have spiced up the racing, and ensured pitstop strategy is a factor again
rather than a complete non-event, but has taken things totally to the other
extreme. The scenario is not good. Pirelli will probably extend their contract,
largely because the FIA has no other options and that is their own fault for
what they did to Michelin after the tyre fiasco at Indianapolis in 2005, even
after Michelin admitted their guilt and did all they could to reimburse disgruntled
supporters at the time.
The
International Tribunal was a total waste of everyone’s time. Mercedes have escaped virtually scot-free
from doing something completely prohibited by the current rules, and whilst we
can now try to get back to ‘racing,’ although that is a strong word to use in
2013 considering the crazy tyre management we’ve often seen, I get the feeling
more questions have been raised by the verdict rather than the answers we were
all looking for.
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