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Despite Nico Rosberg’s Monaco GP win Ross Brawn says it won’t become apparent whether Mercedes has got to the bottom of its tyre problems until Silverstone.

Brawn was also keen to downplay suggestions that Mercedes benefited in Monaco from the disputed Barcelona test.

“I don’t see how because we were testing future tyres,” said Brawn. “We were on pole position in several races before the Pirelli test, and this is an easier track on tyres. I think for us the measure of whether we’ve made real progress will come at Silverstone, because that’s the first really hard duress circuit where we need to see if we can improve the tyre situation.”

Meanwhile Brawn says he wants the drivers to keep spurring each other on.

“We want the ‘yo-yo,’ we want each driver to assert himself for a few races, and then the other one will try harder and assert himself. I think if we can achieve that, we’ll have a fantastic season.”

Brawn was full of praise for Rosberg’s drive: “Nico ran a great race, perfect time, perfect pace. We didn’t get it right with Lewis around the pit stop with the safety car, and that was a great shame because I think he was in perfect condition at that point, and I think he could have perhaps managed more. Apart from that, it was a perfect weekend.

“He’s been in very good shape all weekend. Last year he was tremendous here, he followed Mark through the whole race last year, he was clearly a quicker car, but he couldn’t use it.”

Pirelli’s planned change to Kevlar-belted rear tyres for the British GP could still be blocked by the teams, despite its apparent confidence that the switch will go ahead.

The Italian company may be a little optimistic, because the change still requires unanimous consent from the teams, and that has not yet been forthcoming.

It’s believed that three teams have been reluctant to agree, in some cases specifically because – as outlined here this week – they would lose the advantage they currently gain by running the steel-belted right and left rear tyres the wrong way round. That will no longer be relevant with the Kevlar tyres.

Regarding the planned change Paul Hembery noted in Monaco: “It risks changing the dynamic of the tyre in terms of shape and deformation for example, you can imagine that there are a number of teams that have been extremely vocal about wanting dramatic changes, and there are a number of equally vocal teams who want absolutely no changes.

“You’re stuck in the middle of that. You have to find a solution that’s sportingly equitable, which means making as few changes as possible, because everybody had the same information and data when we started out the season, and it would be unfair on teams that perceive they are doing well at the moment to penalise them with a chance that is too dramatic.”

No agreement was reached in time for Canada, but in postponing the move until Silverstone Pirelli is at least hoping to diffuse some of the tension resulting from the teams learning that Mercedes ran Kevlar tyres at the Barcelona test, thus getting a jump start on the opposition.

The other 10 teams will now have a chance to run them on Friday in Montreal, with each driver being given two sets under the ‘experimental’ tyre rule.

However if it is wet in Montreal on Friday it seems highly unlikely that even those teams supporting the move will all agree to run the new tyres at Silverstone, knowing that Mercedes is still the only competitor with prior knowledge.

Agreement is required because Pirelli has not played the safety card, which trumps the usual arrangement, and requires no agreement from the teams.

One might assume that Pirelli does not want to resort to formally declaring that its current tyres are unsafe in order to force the change through. Indeed Paul Hembery has repeatedly made it clear Pirelli is more worried from a PR point of view about how a tread delamination looks on TV.

There is also the question of whether a loss of tread can be justified as a safety issue, when in fact it has allowed drivers to continue safely when as opposed to losing control due to a complete tyre failure.

Indeed even Hembery admitted in Monaco that the delaminating tyres could actually be viewed as safer given that they allow drivers to continue.

“It doesn’t deflate, that’s certainly true,” he said. “That is an aspect. Visually from a tyre maker’s point of view, it’s not great. Some of the damage we’ve seen this year more than likely would have caused a deflation, as we’ve seen in previous seasons, so that is debatable. It just looks really poor, so we have to change.”

Others in the pitlane support the view that the current tyres are better.

“The safest mode of failure with a cut tyre is what they have,” one team insider told this writer. “Or you can have a puncture that deflates rapidly and then explodes. The safest thing they can do is basically make this construction not delaminate. That’s just a bonding issue between the tread and the casing, that’s the bottom line.

“They found out that last year’s tyres have the better bond, because the bond between Kevlar and rubber is a lot easier to get right than it is between steel and rubber. For them it’s let’s go back to Kevlar, and then the tread won’t come off. But you’ll get punctures…”

Ferrari has  downplayed the relevance of a tyre test it conducted on Pirelli’s behalf at Barcelona between the Bahrain and Spanish GPs.

Ferrari has justified its involvement in the tyre test in the same way as Mercedes has, in that it was simply responding to a request Pirelli made in a letter to the teams in March last year. As Pirelli’s Paul Hembery told this blog in Monaco, “some replied, some didn’t.”

The key point is that Ferrari ran a 2011 car on behalf of Pirelli, in stark contrast to the later Mercedes test at the same venue with a 2013 machine. Thus there is no question of Ferrari having contravened the FIA sporting regulations by running a current car.

The car was also run at Barcelona not by the race team but by the Corse Clienti division, which takes care of cars owned by wealthy customers, as well as conducting street demonstrations and any other running involving non-current cars, such as young driver tests.

In Monaco Stefano Domenicali made it clear that Ferrari’s protest against Mercedes was focussed solely its use of the W04 – on the basis that the Italian team would be happy to test with its own F138, if that is ultimately deemed legal.

“For a bit more of a year there has been a possibility of performing these so-called 1000kms tests that Pirelli does for its own tyre development,” a team spokesman told this blog. “For Ferrari it has always been very clear that these tests could not make use of a 2013 car. In terms of running an old car, the matter is quite irrelevant, because it is totally within the rules.

“This is something that we have never denied, this was very transparent. All the teams have this possibility. The tyres, the specification of the test, is something that Pirelli knows, not us.”

However, while Ferrari clearly has not broken any FIA rules, rival teams were not aware of the test at the time, and have been somewhat surprised as details have gradually emerged – and thus the issue is more one of a lack of transparency from Pirelli, and as with the Mercedes test, its contractual commitment to the FIA to ensure sporting equity.

Until the Ferrari test Pirelli had conducted its development with a 2010 Renault, run by the Lotus show car team, but with other teams kept fully in the loop about what was going on. They were given clear guarantees that Lotus would not gain any advantage, and sent reports of the test results.

This was not the case with either the Ferrari or Mercedes tests.

Williams has confirmed that is has signed a “long-term” deal with Mercedes from the 2014 season onwards, as predicted here last week.

Mercedes will thus have four engine partners in 2014, and only three in 2015 after McLaren goes to Honda, at least as things stand at the moment.

The deal makes obvious sense given Toto Wolff’s relationship with both parties, and while it hasn’t been mentioned, one could speculate that there could be some co-operation between Mercedes and Williams on other projects.

Sir Frank Williams said: “Mercedes-Benz has been one of the sport’s most successful engine suppliers and we believe that they will have an extremely competitive engine package. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Renault for their continued hard work since we renewed our engine partnership at the beginning of the 2012 season. We have enjoyed a strong relationship that has resulted in much success over the years, including powering us to winning ways once again last year at the Spanish Grand Prix.”

Toto Wolff added: “It is a win-win situation for both HPP and Williams, which will ensure HPP is able to supply at least three teams on a long-term basis under the new regulations and could open interesting new perspectives for technology transfer. We look forward to enjoying much success together over the coming years.”

Meanwhile Renault Sport boss Jean-Michel Jalinier said: “We have stated on numerous occasions that we would supply up to five teams if there was a requirement to do so, but this would not make sense economically or be ideal for our resources.

“Three, or up to four, teams is the ideal for us so the departure of Williams normalizes the situation and makes things much clearer from our side. We will announce the next team [Caterham] within a matter of days, and then confirm the final stage before the end of June. We remain incredibly motivated about the challenge of the 2014 engines.”

Pirelli has now issued a formal statement confirming its intention to give each driver two sets of ‘experimental’ tyres for the Friday of the Canadian GP.

It confirms that the intention is to race them from Silverstone. The statement reads as follows:

The Formula One teams will have an opportunity to test the new range of Pirelli P Zero tyres during free practice at the Canadian Grand Prix, while the tyres used for the actual race will remain in their original 2013 specification. 

In order to provide some testing time before any new range of tyres is introduced, the P Zero White medium and P Zero Red supersoft for Canada will be in exactly the same specification as that which the teams started the season, with no adjustments.

This new tyre will be brought to Canada as an experimental tyre for free practice, as allowed by the current regulations. Each driver will receive two sets of this new medium compound for use during Friday’s two sessions only. 

Following feedback from the teams and drivers, the new specification of tyre is then set to be introduced from the British Grand Prix at the end of June, and will remain in place until the end of the year. 

The aim of introducing the new tyre is to prevent any instances of the tread detaching itself from the structure. However, the performance and wear characteristics of the new tyre will not be significantly different, with the aim of keeping up the spectacle and retaining a strategic element to all the races.

Pirelli has moved to defuse the fuss about the Mercedes Barcelona test by postponing the planned switch to the revised rear tyres until Silverstone.

The company had intended to make the switch from steel to Kevlar belts – as used last year – for the Montreal weekend.

However, the news that Mercedes potentially gained an advantage by trying them during the test after the GP in Barcelona made the early introduction less tenable. Instead Pirelli will provide the teams with sets of the new tyres for evaluation on Friday, thus allowing everyone to sample them before the earliest introduction at Silverstone.

Nevertheless the change remains contentious because as outlined on this blog yesterday some teams have been able to gain performance by running the rear tyres on the wrong side, and have adjusted their car set-up to make it effective.

This technique will no longer be relevant because the left and right Kevlar tyres are identical, and this swapping will make no difference.

It remains to be seen whether the teams most affected will continue to argue their case with Pirelli and the FIA before Silverstone on the basis that it is a change of specification, which requires unanimous agreement. However that condition is trumped by a change on safety grounds.

Former Jaguar and Aston Martin executive Mike O’Driscoll has been announced as the new Group CEO of Williams Grand Prix Holdings.

The team says that “the newly created role will see the Williams F1 Team and Williams Advanced Engineering united under one management structure and will enable Mike to provide support to Sir Frank Williams, founder and Team Principal and to work in partnership with Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal.

“Mike will lead the Executive Committee who will report to him and in turn he will report to Sir Frank Williams and the Williams Grand Prix Holdings board.”

Meanwhile former CEO Alex Burns has left the company.

Sir Frank Williams said: “Mike has been a valued member of our Board since 2011 as a Non-Executive Director, and I am delighted that his day to day involvement in the company is to significantly increase. This new role strengthens the company and will help us achieve our goals both on the race track and in diversification. Mike brings with him significant skills and a wealth of experience. Working with Claire, I am in no doubt that the future of Williams is in safe hands.”

Claire Williams added: “Mike brings with him a unique mix of skills and capabilities and he is a passionate motorsport enthusiast with significant automotive industry experience. I have every confidence that he can drive the business forward to deliver an improved performance for both the Williams F1 Team and Williams Advanced Engineering.”

“I am honoured that the Board has entrusted me with the position of Group CEO,” said O’Driscoll. “I have been proud to serve as a Non-Executive Director since 2011 and in my new role, I am very much looking forward to helping Sir Frank and Claire achieve the ambitious goals we have set ourselves.”

This pic, courtesy of AMG Mercedes, shows a swapped rear tyre at Monaco

Further to yesterday’s story about teams swapping left and right rear tyres, here is an official photo from the AMG Mercedes website, clearly showing a right rear tyre fitted on the left of a W04 at Monaco. Note the directional arrow, and the code ‘R22’.

Did Mercedes try this technique, already used by other teams, at the Barcelona test? It would be fascinating to find out. I’ve put the question to Pirelli and am awaiting an answer – a Mercedes spokesman was unable to comment on what the team did with tyres in Spain. [Update: After reading this story Mercedes F1 contacted me to say that they have been trying tyre swapping since as early as Melbourne.]

You can read yesterday’s story here: https://adamcooperf1.com/2013/05/28/analysis-how-pirelli-montreal-change-will-handicap-tyre-swapping-teams/

Lotus F1 team principal Eric Boullier was in the unusual position on Sunday in Monaco of criticising a rival for causing a collision while defending his own driver for doing the same after two separate incidents.

Boullier joined the growing chorus of critics of Sergio Perez after the Mexican hit the back of Kimi Raikkonen at the entry to the chicane, giving the Finn a puncture that ruined his race.

“I think he tried once,” said Boullier of Perez. “And obviously if you look at the video he was attempting a very, very late braking, obviously misunderstanding the braking line of Kimi, so that was I think a little bit too much. He nearly crashed into his team mate in Bahrain, and it looks like we see he’s trying too often to be too aggressive, and to attempt something which is most of the time impossible to do.”

Meanwhile Romain Grosjean was given a 10-place grid penalty for Montreal after hitting Daniel Ricciardo under braking for the chicane. Grosjean carried on for a couple of laps before retiring, but had he continued a little longer he would have got a drive through penalty, and his Canadian race would not have been affected.

Grosjean was quick in Monaco but he had a huge crash at Ste Devote on Thursday followed by a near repeat on Saturday morning. After getting out late in Q1 he lost out in Q2 when he was caught behind Ricciardo

“It’s always the same story, especially in Monaco,” said Boullier. “He had the pace, we could see it, and it’s even more frustrating because of that. Thursday’s accident didn’t help, but it happens.

“Obviously the rest of the story went worse on Saturday morning, building up his frustration. Ricciardo didn’t allow him to complete the Q2 like he should have done, and he ended up 13^th on the grid.

“I think we just need to cool him down and have a proper discussion when we are back in the factory. It’s not a worry, he did a great job over the winter and fixed all the problems he had last year, so I think there’s some frustration sometime when he knows he can be fast and he just needs to build himself.

“He is fast and he can deliver some big results. He did it in Bahrain and he was on his way to do it in Barcelona so it’s just using the momentum and making sure he’s back on track with the real expectations.”

An interesting twist to the Pirelli testing saga has emerged, and it throws a little more light on what Mercedes might or might not have done at Barcelona.

This blog can reveal that since the start of the season some teams have routinely being swapping the left and right rear tyres, having discovered – in some cases as early as winter testing – that they found an overall performance advantage by doing so.

The 2013 steel belt tyres are ‘handed,’ meaning that they are marked left and right and are intended by Pirelli to be used on that side of the car.

However there is nothing in the rules to stop teams from using them on the ‘wrong’ side, if they find it works better. However it’s not something that can be done without a considerable amount of attention to set-up and so on, in order to make the change work effectively.

Indeed in the case of some teams it even goes back to the design stage as they worked with data during the winter, having run prototype tyres in Brazil, and decided – in effect – that Pirelli had got its sums wrong in defining the left and right side tyres.

Intriguingly sources have told this blog that in Monaco Mercedes used the swapping technique for the first time – or at least it was the first time that it was spotted by keen-eyed observers.

It would thus be very easy to speculate that Mercedes took the opportunity of the Barcelona test to try swapping the rears around.

However while it may have helped Mercedes in Monaco, it might not do so in Montreal – assuming that Pirelli follows up on its promise to switch from steel belts back to Kevlar, as used last year.

As is well known, the move has been touted on safety grounds, as a result of several cases of delaminating treads, which have caused embarrassment to the Italian company – even though many observers consider that a delamination is potentially safer than a complete tyre disintegration, as it allows the driver to carry on back to the pits.

Pirelli has insisted that the change won’t have a major impact on the competition.

However, Kevlar belted tyres are not ‘handed’ meaning they are identical on both sides – in other words there is no point in swapping them around.

And that means the teams that have been routinely swapping will lose the advantage they currently have, and that in turn explains why they a) they are now fighting with Pirelli and the FIA over the planned change and b) why those teams who have not been able to make tyre swapping work, or have general tyre issues, are only too happy for it to go through…

It’s also clear that the change of belts represents a change of specification, which usually has to be cleared by all the teams.

If the change does happen it will provide further ammunition for Red Bull and Ferrari given that it is widely accepted that Mercedes tried the revised tyres in Barcelona, and thus have the huge advantage of being the only team to have already run 2013 Kevlar-belted tyres.

Inevitably the speculation is that Mercedes didn’t just try tyres in Barcelona, but also its own components. It’s even been suggested that the team ran a gearbox with revised suspension geometry in attempt to get to the bottom of its tyre problems. However a Mercedes spokesman says that no new parts were tried, and it was only about tyres.

This story is far from over yet…