The FIA says that it will announce its verdict on the Mercedes tyre testing case “by tomorrow,” following some heated debate in today’s hearing in Paris.
The case is the first to be held under the auspices of the International Tribunal, the new judicial system instigated by Jean Todt.
As expected, Mercedes insisted it had permission to conduct the controversial test, having spoken to the FIA about it. The FIA claimed that while race director Charlie Whiting had indicated that a tyre test with a current car might be possible, it was adamant that any discussions he had with the team did not constitute formal permission – and in any case the Sporting Regulations could only be overridden by the World Motor Sport Council, or by the Tribunal itself.
In addition to outlining the breach of Article 22, related to in-season testing with a current car, FIA lawyer Mark Howard also mentioned Article 151c, which involves bringing the sport into disrepute, or more specifically bans “fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motorsport generally.”
Howard argued that: “Without the knowledge, consent and participation of other competitors, Mercedes and Pirelli may have engaged in activity that was prejudicial to the competition.”
Meanwhile Pirelli was insistent that it could not be sanctioned by the FIA and expressed doubts about why it had been called into proceedings.
Among the surprise revelations today was that Ferrari had conducted not just this year’s Barcelona Pirelli test with Pedro de la Rosa and an old car, but had also run a test with Felipe Massa last year.
This was yet another indication that Pirelli has been colluding with teams to run “private” tests without the knowledge of all its contracted customers, and in stark contrast to the open way it promised to run its test programme with the 2010 Renault.
It remains to be seen what punishment could be inflicted should Mercedes be found guilty. Intriguingly as part of his summing up Mercedes lawyer Paul Harris said that his client had tried to act in good faith in checking with the FIA, and thus something like a reprimand – or exclusion from the upcoming Young Driver test, where the current cars are used by all teams – would be an appropriate punishment.
The latter idea certainly has some merit as a possible sanction, and sounds like something that may have already been discussed with the FIA. However it would still not put the other teams on a par with Mercedes given that they won’t be using race drivers, and thus missing that tests hardly equates to a punishment.
In perhaps the most bizarre pronouncement of the day Harris also apologised for the fact that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had completed the test in plain, unmarked helmets, claiming – somewhat unbelievably – that it was to lessen interest from fans due to a lack of security and bodyguards.
As outlined here three weeks ago did in fact involve strict security to the extent that a lone photographer/blogger standing outside the venue was invited to leave…
Adam Cooper F1 
Excluding Mercedes form the Young Driver test would be an interesting sanction. Presumably the teams will run 2013 Pirelli tyres in that test, so it will disadvantage Mercedes since they mainly tested 2014 rubber @ Barcelona.
In my opinion the “exclude us from the young driver test” thing was comical. OK give us a slap on the wrist now type of suggestion.
“Fair” punishment if and I stress the word if Mercedes are found guilty, in my opinion, would be for them to be excluded from maybe 1 or 2 races. That will even out the mileage all teams run with their race drivers (thus leveling the playing field from a sporting point of view), and the loss of constructor points (and Sponsor visibility) will be the punitive aspect. But obviously with the British and German grands prix coming up I very much doubt the FIA would want to go there …
“Please don’t throw me in the briar patch Brer Fox!”
I suggest that a fair punishment would be that Mercedes have to alternate dropping one driver and replace that driver with Susie Wolff.
I’m sure Ferrari & Red Bull would gladly test with their 2013 cars & drivers for 3 days at a current circuit & also skip the young driver test.
Why was the Ferrari test with Massa seemingly just glossed over?
It was a two-year old car apparently, and thus not subject to the sporting regs. That doesn’t mean other teams are not angry now that it’s come out and we know that Ferrari has had two ‘private’ tests, albeit with the old cars.
It’s that word apparently that bothers me, thanks Adam
good point peters! Why is Ferrari off the hook?
I believe the difference between the Ferrari test before Barcelona and the Mercedes test after is that Ferrari’s race division did not participate, it was the special division (Corsa Clienti or something like that) with PdlR driving the 2-year old car while Mercedes tested with their race team and race drivers using the current car. To me, that makes these two COMPLETELY different and not an issue.
About the test last year with Massa, I don’t know the details, which puts me on part with most others. If they tested with the 2010 car they would seem to be in-line with the rules, but this could be viewed negatively IF it was the race team doing the running vs. their private division.
As for potential punishments…I don’t think 1000km with Hamilton and Rosberg equates to a few days with rookie drivers. How about finding how many sets of tires they used during that running and take them away from the upcoming grands prix so they have less running? That’ll make people happy and “level” the playing field in some way. (I suggest that mainly in jest).
I also got a little annoyed when Mercedes tried to argue that the test was “undertaken” by Pirelli because they paid the bills. Did Mercedes technicians and engineers work on the car or did Pirelli guys do that? If Pirelli supplied all of the manpower and everything BUT the car and driver, then it could be that Pirelli undertook the test. But if it was Mercedes drivers driving Mercedes cars worked on by Mercedes mechanics, Mercedes has undertaken the test even if Pirelli paid the bills for it.
It is interesting that there was a previously unknown Massa test last year (presumably not in the current car). Exactly why Pirelli is in the habit of testing that is not completely overt is somewhat of a mystery.
Why would the Mercedes lawyer even broach the subject of punishment if they were not guilty?
Mercedes arguments are all based on fairly weak bits of data in my view; an unratiifed opinion, in their opinion, on presumption etc etc. The FIAs arguments are all based on far sounder factual evidence.
I honestly believe the FIA needs to send a strong message about sporting integrity, and that can only be achieved with banning them for two races. Those two races would hit Mercedes really hard, as their the British & German GPs, two of their most important given the team is British based and German owned.
The problem with this is that Mercedes would certainly appeal before the British GP and that would put the ban on hold until a new hearing could be held. This would probably not take place before the German GP, thus it wouldn’t hurt as much.
That and I think that might be a bit too harsh.