Vettel and Rosberg disagree on ‘tyre-gate’ scandal

AFP/Montreal

Defending triple world champion Vettel, whose Red Bull team lodged a protest, along with Ferrari, against Mercedes’ alleged breach of the sporting rules, said they gained an unfair advantage by testing the Pirelli tyres in-season following last month’s Spanish Grand Prix.

“I see it as a critical issue,” he told Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. “Each test kilometre is an advantage and Mercedes had the opportunity to test tyres that we will probably race at Silverstone. I think this is an advantage over all the other teams.”

Fellow-German Rosberg, winner of the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago and seeking his fourth straight pole position in this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, said he disagreed completely.

He pointed out that there was no gain for Mercedes because Pirelli had full control of the running at the test where both he and his teammate Briton Lewis Hamilton did the driving.

“We have no say whatsoever — they (Pirelli) say ‘you are doing that, that, that and that’ and the engineers that they have run our programme,” he told Sky Sports.

“So it is not for us to learn anything or to decide on anything that we do.”

Vettel also scoffed at Pirelli’s decision to test proposed changes to the tyre design this weekend in Canada, because of a lack of support in the pit lane.

Vettel said: “The tread completely falls off. This is a safety risk for all of us. That we won’t have these (revised) tyres for the race on a fast track like Canada is, for me, inexplicable.”

Mercedes happy to explain

Mercedes have welcomed the opportunity to explain their allegedly illegal tyre test with Pirelli after being summoned to appear before the sport’s governing body, the FIA.

The German team is under investigation for a potential breach of Formula One’s sporting regulations in running a 2013 race-spec car in a test for Pirelli following this year’s Spanish Grand Prix. That led to a protest from Red Bull and Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix where the stewards, after an investigation, passed the matter to the International Motoring Federation (FIA). The FIA announced from Paris on Wednesday that, as a result of their inquiries, Mercedes had been called to face the International Tribunal.

In their own statement on yesterday, Mercedes said the tribunal hearing would be a perfect opportunity to explain.

The statement said: “Mercedes-Benz acknowledges the decision of the FIA to take the matter of the Pirelli Test before the International Tribunal.

“We welcome the opportunity to explain the full facts of the Pirelli test in an open and transparent manner at the International Tribunal.

“Sporting integrity is of primary importance to Mercedes-Benz and we have the utmost confidence in the due process of the FIA.”

No date has yet been set for the tribunal hearing, but under FIA statutes it could take up to 45 days for a meeting to be scheduled.