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After the massive disappointments in Bahrain and Spain everything finally came together for Nico Rosberg in Monaco. Here’s his take on the biggest day of his career to date.

One of the great mysteries of the ongoing Mercedes testing saga is how and why both the team and Pirelli kept it a secret when it was inevitably going to come to light at some stage.

Paul Hembery had a chat with a group of journalists in Monaco in Thursday, when the subject of testing came up. At no point in that session or the lengthy FIA press conference that preceded it did Hembery offer any hint that a test had taken place, despite extensive discussion.

However when asked what would be the ideal solution to the lack of opportunities for Pirelli to test, he offered what in retrospect is an interesting insight into why the Barcelona session was so useful for Pirelli – and one has to assume Mercedes as well.

“Obviously when you’ve got a benchmark from a race, it’s ideal to go testing, because you’ll have fresh data,” he said. “If you could stay on with a couple of teams, and you could rotate them – that’s not really the issue – then you’re in a better situation, because you’ve got representative data, hopefully you’ve got the drivers that have just driven the race, and you can actually do some valuable testing. That would be the dream, but I’m not sure if that’s ever going to happen.”

As we know now just such a test had taken place the previous week…

Alonso made the finish on Sunday but he had a tough afternoon. Photo: AC

Fernando Alonso made clear his displeasure with Sergio Perez after the Mexican forced the Ferrari driver to partially cut the Monaco chicane.

Alonso also had an incident with Perez in Bahrain, who caused even the Iceman Kimi Raikkonen to lose his cool after they made contact at the chicane on Sunday.

“I think really I don’t want to take too much attention on this, because the most important thing of the race is that Felipe is good,” said Alonso when asked about the incident. “The second most important thing is that Rosberg won the race, and then with Perez that he has the car parked at Rascasse. I think that is only comment I can say.

“He was lucky this year with two or three incidents, in Bahrain he nearly had contact with Jenson, with me I was off the track to avoid the contact, here I cut the chicane to avoid the contact again. Kimi was not lucky because he didn’t avoid the contact, and at the end he retired. Only McLaren has to be happy with him, all the others we just need to do our work.”

Over the course of the race Alonso was overtaken several times, notably at the hairpin. He argued that it’s much harder for a title contender to take risks in wheel-to-wheel combat.

“Obviously I was disappointed that they passed. Here there is not room to overtake, so if someone starts the manoeuvre if you do the normal corner you will crash, there will be a contact. If you are lucky or not, it’s a different thing. So for sure when you fight for these positions with people that have two or three points in the championship they risk.

“I did the same in 2008, 2009, nothing to do, I was risking at the start, I was doing overtakings in strange positions, etc. And sometimes it worked, and if you have a front wing broken, nothing happened, you pit and you don’t lose anything. You’re fighting for the championship, so if we look in the mirror, someone tries to overtake us in Loews or the chicane, if we turn we crash, we don’t know if we are lucky or not.

“So that was not good. Why we found ourselves in that position? Because we didn’t have the pace today, and we didn’t have the pace in qualifying especially. You start at the front, you fight with the top guys, if you start seventh or eighth, there is the risk of these battles with people who have nothing to lose.”

Stefano Domenicali says that Ferrari submitted a protest about the Mercedes Pirelli test in order to gain clarity on what is allowed.

Like most other teams in the paddock Ferrari is adamant that any test with a current car is illegal – but if it isn’t then the Italian team is only too happy to participate.

“We just want to know if this is possible,” said Domenicali. “If this is possible we’d be the first to raise our hands to make sure that we can do the same, because as you know Ferrari has been very pushy to try and do in-season testing on the track, and this is the reason why we wanted to understand this situation, no more than that.

“And if the decision can be opposite on what we believe, it’s the right interpretation of course on our side, then we will need to react immediately and ask for this to happen I would say as soon as technically we can do something.

“Since two years I think it’s clear that Pirelli, in order to do some testing, was asking for all the teams to do some running. But for us it’s very clear that we cannot do that with the actual car, and that’s why basically even if they didn’t formally ask us, we believe that it’s not possible to do it. Because otherwise, as I said, we’d be the first to be there in pole position.”

Asked if Rosberg’s Monaco win had been tainted by the saga, Domenicali was circumspect.

“That’s difficult to say to be honest. For sure three days have helped them, because otherwise you don’t do a test. But to say that this was an immediate effect I would say something that I don’t know, because I don’t know what they did, I don’t know who was there, I don’t know anything more than what is on air I would say. I would be too superficial and I don’t want to be.”

This note was given to media by the FIA tonight

In a note issued to the media tonight the FIA has in effect hinted that Mercedes could face serious sanctions as a result of the controversial secret Pirelli test.

It makes it clear that Pirelli and Mercedes did not follow procedures and that they tested without the FIA’s permission.

Jean Todt is believed to be furious about what happened and met with Stefano Domenicali at the Ferrari motorhome today.

The note reads as follows: “At the beginning of May, the FIA was asked by Pirelli if it was possible to carry out some tyre development testing with a team, using a current car. Within the contract Pirelli has with the FIA as single-supplier, there is provision for them to carry out up to 1000kms of testing with any team – provided every team is offered the opportunity to do so.

“Pirelli and Mercedes-AMG were advised by the FIA that such a development test could be possible if carried out by Pirelli, as opposed to the team that would provide the car and driver, and that such tests would be conditional upon every team being given the same opportunity to test in order to ensure full sporting equity.

“Following this communication, the FIA received no further information about a possible test from Pirelli or Mercedes-AMG. Furthermore the FIA received no confirmation that all teams had been given an opportunity to test.”

It goes on to clarify the legal procedures that will now follow in the coming days. Watch this space…

Ferrari says that a mechanical problem was the cause of Felipe Massa’s huge accident in the Monaco GP – despite the driver accepting blame for a near identical crash in FP3 yesterday.

In both cases Massa hit the barrier on the left approaching Ste Devote before continuing into the barrier on the exit of the corner.

The first accident happened after Massa locked his front wheels while braking a little too late on a bump, but this time there was a problem with the car.

“First and foremost, I’m pleased that Felipe is okay,” said technical director Pat Fry. “Today’s accident looked very similar to what happened in the third free practice session, but in fact the two incidents are very different. Unlike yesterday, it seems that today’s incident can be attributed to a problem on the left front corner of the car. It’s too early to say precisely what happened and in the next few days, we will try and ascertain the exact cause back in Maranello.

Meanwhile Massa said: “I’m alright, I’ve just got a slight pain in my neck, but nothing serious. Now I will look to get in shape and be back 100% for the Montreal race. All I want to do is put this bad weekend behind me and think about doing well in the rest of the season.”

A protest from Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull Racing regarding the Mercedes Pirelli test was heard by the FIA stewards after the Monaco GP, but as expected no immediate action has resulted, and instead a report will now be considered by the FIA.

The official outcome is that ‘after hearing and collecting information the stewards will write a report to the FIA who may bring the matter before the International Tribunal.’

The two teams had protested Mercedes for a breach of Article 22.4 h) of the sporting regulations, which refers to testing, and expressly bans teams from running with a current car.

The story has developed over the course of the day with Toto Wolff confirming that Mercedes was asked to participate ‘eight or nine days’ before the test, and Stefano Domenicali and Christian Horner making it clear that their teams are adamant that the rules were broken.

More later…

News that Mercedes conducted a 1000kms test for Pirelli at Barcelona after the Spanish GP has inflamed passions in the paddock and infuriated rival teams.

The heart of the matter is that Pirelli has a contract with the FIA which apparently allows it to call on a team to test during the season when it has some urgent work to do, primarily if there is a safety issue.

Pirelli told the teams about this last year and according to motor sport boss Paul Hembery some agreed to help, and others didn’t reply.

In the aftermath of the controversial Spanish GP, and with changes planned for Montreal, Pirelli asked Mercedes to test, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg doing the driving. Due to rain their work extended over three days before the 1000kms was completed.

Incredibly a week passed after the end of the test before the other teams began to learn on Friday in Monaco that it had taken place.

Teams also learned that for at least part of the time tyres that will or could be used in Montreal were under test. And while Pirelli says that the work was aimed at the future that doesn’t seem to gel with the fact that an ‘emergency’ test like this would by definition involve tyres to be used this season – and  Pirelli previously made it clear that little or no work is yet going on regarding 2014.

The key issues for angry rivals are a) the FIA’s own sporting regulations confirm that no testing can be done with a current or last year’s car and b) the lack of transparency in what went on.

This blog grabbed Hembery for an exclusive chat. This what he said:

Q: Can you clarify what the situation is?

“We have an agreement with the FIA that states we can do 1000kms tyre testing. It’s something that we had back in the World Rally Championship as well. Last year we wrote to the teams saying this and inviting teams to say yes or no, whether they were willing to do it. Some teams said yes, and some didn’t reply.”

Q: Why was Mercedes involved in the testing?

“Because they were one of the teams that said they would do it. It’s really that. We were in discussions to do some other testing with another team in the future.”

Q: Who was that?

“It’s our business really.”

Q: Why were the other teams not informed it was going on?

“The issue you’ve got is it’s our testing, it’s our work, and what you see is the more discussion you have, the less you manage to achieve. If you start talking about it you end up six months later actually doing it.”

Q: To allow a team to test with a current car and not tell the others was bound to cause some resentment.

“That was not our situation. We asked for a representative car.”

Q: Under the filming days agreement for example other teams are invited to come and observe and so on, and they tell each other what they are doing. You must have realised that when this would came out they would be upset.

“No, because it’s completely irrelevant, it’s not relevant to what’s happening here, what’s going to happen this season. It’s looking at all sorts of solutions that may have relevance in the next 10 years, I don’t know.”

Q: But it did involve the Canadian GP tyres?

“It involved all sorts of tyres.”

Q: But it did involve tyre that you might be running in Canada?

“It involved all sorts of tyres… Let’s turn it round the other way. What do you expect us to do? The rules are very clear, it’s existed in the FIA contracts for years, and we just used it. We’ve got nothing else to add.”

Q: The fact that you did it with a team that’s made very public its issues with tyres, even if a lot of the running wasn’t with tyres that will be used this year, it’s still them running with this year’s car, with Pirelli, getting data. As Christian Horner said it hasn’t hurt Mercedes, has it?

“They [rivals] have no idea what they tested.”

Q: Won’t the fact that you didn’t tell people and even the team’s own dedicate Pirelli engineers didn’t tell them ‘we were in Barcelona last week with Mercedes’ lead to trust issues?

“We go into laboratories, we do a lot of work. We’re doing our job. They don’t tell us what they’re doing. Every team will have the same opportunity at the same time when we introduce something, and that’s it.”

Q: Did you ask anyone else to do that test, or was it just Mercedes?

“We invited all the teams to do 1000kms testing, some replied, some didn’t.”

Q: But that was last year?

“Some replied, some didn’t…”

Q: But for this specific test…

“We don’t need to. Some replied and some didn’t…”

Renault confirmed today the not unexpected news that Toro Rosso will join Red Bull Racing as a power unit partner of the French company from 2014 onwards.

The deal has been expected for some time as it obviously allows the teams to share gearboxes and other technology, which will represent a cost saving.

In announcing it Renault boss Carlos Ghosn said that he wanted a minimum of three teams and that confirmation of the third – obviously Caterham – is expected soon. However he added that there could be up to five customers. He also said the engines would continue to be badged as Renaults, despite Infiniti’s high profile in the RBR camp.

“Weare very glad that the new technology is starting next year,” said Ghosn. “It’s a technology with a lot of overlaps with the usual cars that we are putting on the market. We have been a supporter of the new power unit because we see a way to justify all the technology development and let the cars of every day benefit from what’s taking place, and particular let F1 benefit from some of the developments we’re doing  in terms of electrification of the engine.”

STR’s Franz Tost said: “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement to use Renault power units from the 2014 season onwards, when the new regulations will present interesting challenges. It is particularly important that we have managed to finalise our plans early, so that we can be as well prepared as possible for next year.

“While looking forward to working with Renault, I would also like to thank Ferrari, our engine supplier since 2007. They have provided us with an extremely effective and reliable engine and an excellent service.

Christian Horner added: “Strategically for Red Bull and Renault, it makes perfect sense for Scuderia Toro Rosso to use the same power unit as Infiniti Red Bull Racing from the 2014 season, which enables synergies between Red Bull and Renault to continue to grow.”

A major controversy has erupted in Monaco after it emerged that Mercedes conducted a secret three-day test with Pirelli at Barcelona after the Spanish GP.

Pirelli’s viewpoint is that it is allowed to call on a team to help with testing in a situation that it faced after Barcelona, when there were moves to make changes and understand the issues that had led to tyres losing treads.

Clearly the test would also have helped Mercedes with the specific issues that it has suffered recently.

However rivals are angry that they were not informed – and the fact that Mercedes has got on the front row again has clearly inflamed passions.

Indeed it’s extraordinary that in the modern era a team could test in secret without anyone knowing.

“We found out secondhand last night,” said Christian Horner. “I think there’s confusion between what is contractually permissible and what isn’t, and what a team when it enters the World Championship is allowed to do within the sporting regs. It’s a situation that we need clarification on, and our position is that we are going to request that clarification.

“I can understand Pirelli wanting to test the tyres – they’ve obviously got issues with the tyres. What’s disappointing is that it’s been done in not a transparent manner. A three-day test has taken place running a current car on tyres that are going to be used in the next Grand Prix. Irrelevant what you call it, that’s testing.

“First of all we need to deal with it through the proper channels, so that’s what we’ll look at doing.”

Asked if he thought the test had helped Mercedes, Horner said: “They’ve got both cars on the front of the grid, so it’s not hurt.”