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FIA test conditions may not have been met by Mercedes

All teams should’ve had test chance

By

26 May 2013 - 22:01

All Formula 1 teams should have been given the chance to test their 2013 cars before Mercedes and Pirelli went ahead with their private tests earlier in May says the FIA.
Mercedes and Pirelli went ahead with a private tyre test after the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona earlier this month, with Mercedes saying they had the full approval of the FIA to do so and that they made no secret of the test. Yet the FIA have released a statement saying that the governing body issued a set of conditions that were to be adhered to during the test, but never received confirmation from either Mercedes AMG F1 Team or Pirelli to say that the conditions had been met:

“At the beginning of May, the FIA was asked by Pirelli if it was possible for it to carry out some tyre development testing with a team, using a current car,” said the statement. "Within the contract Pirelli has with the FIA as a single supplier, there is provision for them to carry out up to 1000km 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 from Mercedes-AMG. Furthermore, the FIA received no confirmation that all the teams had been given the opportunity to take part in this test.”

As the Monaco Grand Prix came to an end earlier today, the race stewards decided to forward the results of their investigation on the FIA for further analysis. It now looks more and more likely that the FIA will put the matter to its International Tribunal. The FIA statement to the press ended on a stern note, providing a clear warning as to what the implications for such a breach of rules may mean:

“The Tribunal may decide to inflict penalties that would supercede any penalty the stewards of the meeting may have issued. Such procedure would be followed in pursuance of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules.”

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