Calling Capt. Ahab! Tell us about Pirelli-gate!
 

It looks like Merc will possibly be sanctioned for it's illegal tire testing after Spain.
It seems to me as though it could be either blatant cheating or a misunderstanding of the rules re. the communication necessary to conduct a 'safety test' to try and understand the tire deterioration issues that Pirelli have been experiencing this season. (Why weren't all teams offered the test, how did Merc manage to use the current 2013 chassis for the test?)

I'm sure the real answer is somewhere in between, but the vicious nature of F1 politics will surely keep the true facts from surfacing as all sides scramble for an advantage.

. . .always love to hear Capt. Ahab's thoughts on F1 issues like these, so I hope he sees this . . . .

According to the announcers during the race, Pirelli can test with any team they choose during the season.

Lets not forget about Ferraris's "close" relationship with Bridgestone.

One tire (tyre) supplier is kind of silly. It kind of squashes the premise that that tire technology will advance in F1 upon which its laurels rest.

Wow, thanks herr, didn't think anyone paid any attention to may F1 ramblings

I know no more than what can found in the press but this is my take on it

Every team is allowed a very small number of test days before the season and a few filming days as well as the odd straight line aero testing during the season using a 2013 car. Any additional testing by teams has to be done with cars I think older than 2yrs. This age of car is considered too slow and out of date to carry out any meaningful performance testing.

Every team is out to exploit the rules in their favour in any legal way possible on and off the track.

Even the teams doing all the moaning do it and the louder they moan usually means the more upset they are eg Redbull slamming Pirelli after losing to a 4 pitstop statergy when they were quite happy winning this way on the same track only 2yrs before.

With the Pirelli test I think Pirelli are allowed to ask an individual team to to test tyres on their behalf during the season. Most teams are too smart or more like not stupid enough to try such a deliberate cheat such as an illegal test. It would be nearly impossible to keep an F1 track test secret.

I would imagine Pirelli asked Mercedes but only after after lots of badgering from Mercedes on the grounds that they needed to test because of safety issues. Mercedes have more technical directors than any team so they would have read the small print regarding Pirelli testing and I would imagine found that nowhere is it written that this Pirelli test had to be done using a car 2yrs or older. Pirelli should be an impartial supplier to all teams so it has done nothing wrong by not telling other teams.

What I think will happen now is there will be a rule clarification and to keep the other top teams happy they will each be allowed their own private test with Pirelli. Everyone is a winner, including the F1 fans as it doesn't change the drivers championship between 4 drivers from 4 teams.

With F1 rules its more important to read what you can't do rather than what you can do. Every team will do this and if they cross over into a grey area then good for them as usually the worst that can happen is the hole in the rules gets clarified and locked down to stop anymore exploiting in the future. The team that found the loop hole gets the advantage.

You're welcome, and thank you for taking time to give us your take. If your contacts in the racing world give you any news nuggets, I hope you can let us in!

(I think some wealthy law firms are going to be padding some bank accounts overt the course of the next few weeks.)

Can't do that but I'm happy to put 2+2 together and tell you what I think it adds up to

That's good enough! I like your measured responses when everyone is bandying opinions around. This case will probably prove to be pretty interesting.

Didn't Ferrari have a similar private test this season?

They did, but they used a 2010 chassis.

Thanks for the original post and for the posters posts.

Getting to see a F1 event is on my bucket list. It said on the TV that 4 nite stay at Monte Carlo hotel on the circuit is 25,000 Euro so it could be a while before we go to that one, if ever.

Exactly and a good example of this gray area exploitation would be in 2009 with Braun GP's double defuser which arguably was the key to their CWC & DWC that year and made Ross an even more wealthy man as a result of selling Braun GP to Mercedes off the success of the interpretation of the rules. This is all part of Braun and other F1 elites genius and why I love F1!

Anyway, excellent post Captain!