Nothing secret about Merc test, say Pirelli

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.

Reuters/London

Pirelli’s ‘secret’ Formula One tyre test with Mercedes this month was nothing of the sort and the team were not favoured either, the Italian company said yesterday as the governing body weighed up possible action.

Pirelli denied asking Mercedes to use their current car at the May 15-17 Barcelona test, which caused a storm when details leaked out only last weekend, and said they planned further tests with teams.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) is deliberating whether to order the tyremaker and Mercedes to appear before an international tribunal to face charges of breaking the regulations.

Testing during the season with current cars is banned, although Pirelli are allowed to carry out some 1,000km tests with a ‘representative’ car to gather data.

Champions Red Bull and Ferrari both protested at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, which was won by Mercedes from pole position, and suggested Mercedes had gained an unfair advantage.

“We are very disappointed by some of the coverage that has happened in the media and on social networks,” said Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery in a conference call with reporters.

“The main purpose of the test was to start development of our tyre for potential involvement in the 2014 F1 world championship. It’s not to do with this year.

“The tests were performed with tyre specifications that are not used and will not be used in the 2013 world championship.  The focus was on 2014,” he added.

No Secret

Pirelli sent an e-mail to all the teams, the FIA and commercial rights holders on March 12, 2012, pointing out that they were allowed to do such tests and inviting them to indicate their availability.

The invitation was repeated “in various official contexts” and to teams last March as Pirelli sought help to develop tyres to cope with the characteristics of a new V6 engine for 2014.

Hembery said Pirelli had not asked Mercedes to use a 2013 car, with that discussed directly between the team and FIA.

“Some people have described the tests as ‘secret’. Well, I don’t think we’re going to win any James Bond prizes. We booked the circuit in our name, two days after an F1 race, we turned up in our trucks and dressed as Pirelli people with a brightly-coloured Mercedes car,” he added.       

Asked why Pirelli had not tested with the 2010 Renault they have used in the past, Hembery said it was unavailable because it was doing a demonstration in the Philippines and also unrepresentative.

“These tests were performed blind. Mercedes had, and still have, no idea what was being tested. There was no benefit to them,” he added.

The tests in Barcelona involved a base compound not in use this year and 12 different structures also not used in 2013. 

Pirelli said prototype tyres to be used in Friday practice at next week’s Canadian Grand Prix had not been tested by Mercedes.

They said the ‘delamination’ problems, experienced when tyres are damaged by debris and shed their treads without deflating, had been resolved by technicians working in the company’s laboratories with data from races.

“We envisage other tests during the year looking at 2014 and we certainly will be hoping to have other tests with teams who are willing to perform that,” said Hembery.

Mercedes could pull out of Formula One

New York: Mercedes could pull out of Formula One over bribery allegations against F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, a member of the Daimler board said during a round-table media talk in New York. The Formula One supremo could face charges in Germany over allegations that he paid a German bank official a 44 million dollars bribe when BayernLB took over Formula One shares.

Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, who is responsible for integrity and legal affairs on the Daimler board, said at the media event this week that the company had put appropriate clauses into their contract with Formula One.

“We can pull out of the sport and we would use the appropriate clauses if necessary,” she said.

The bank official has since been sentenced to eight and a half years jail, but it is not yet known whether the 82-year-old Ecclestone will be charged.

Hohmann-Denhardt, however, stressed that the German justice system first had to decide and that “we have to await that decision”.