Mercedes Banned From Young Driver Test

[Irisado]

The verdict is in, and Mercedes have been reprimanded.  They won't be allowed to participate in the young driver test http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/22999260.  It seems to me that they could have been punished more harshly, so I'd be surprised if they appeal.

Pirelli has also been reprimanded, which probably won't do anything to improve relations between the FIA and F1's tyre supplier.

More details are to follow, so I'll hold back my full opinion until later.

[cosworth151]

Here are 20 pages of FIA-speak that add up to, "Naughty lads, don't do it again."

http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/news/files/%28IT-2013-01%29-Decision%20%28EN%29.pdf

[Scott]

FIA = joke. If you are afraid of punishing those who break the rules, what is the point of having rules?  Here comes in-season testing again, with or without FIA sanctioning.

[vintly]

Shoddy rules make for grey areas, this is all on the FIA for letting it happen. Well done Mercedes, although they've lost the young driver test, which I suppose is just enough to keep the other teams quiet. Glad that's over!

[Scott]

Isn't it just a bit ironic that the penalty is exactly that which the Mercedes lawyer suggested? 

'Gee Your Honour, I'm sorry, how about you just give me a light slap with a wet noodle and I'll get out of your hair.  Hope you boys and girls all had a nice couple of days sightseeing around Paris and good meals at your fancy hotels.  We'll pick up the tab.'   

[Monty]

Well it has to be said - I told you so 

The FIA knew about this test and if RBR hadn't complained, nothing more would have been said.. However, once highlighted I always felt that the FIA were going to either blame Charlie or deny everything.
Basically they have done both but the fact that they are covering a third of the costs is as good as an absolute admission that the FIA had been informed and had agreed to what was a necessary test.
The test did nothing for Mercedes but let us hope it did actually help Pirelli.
Hopefully we can look forward to proper racing but with just a small amount of uncertainty coming from tyre choice.

[Alonsofan]

I have to agree with you Scott. It is kind of pointless having rules, so obviously broken, with little or no significant punishment 

At least we can now get on with the rest of the season and hopefully see Vettel's title push go off track, literally

[vintly]

I have to agree with you Scott. It is kind of pointless having rules, so obviously broken, with little or no significant punishment 

At least we can now get on with the rest of the season and hopefully see Vettel's title push go off track, literally

Heheh I love how Vettel creeps into threads that are completely unrelated. The mark of a true champ. Go Seb 

[Alonsofan]

I have to agree with you Scott. It is kind of pointless having rules, so obviously broken, with little or no significant punishment 

At least we can now get on with the rest of the season and hopefully see Vettel's title push go off track, literally

Heheh I love how Vettel creeps into threads that are completely unrelated. The mark of a true champ. Go Seb 

Oh sorry Vintly I didn't mean to upset you 
Ok...Go Seb Go!!!! Oh I didn't mean into the wall  hehe

[Ian]

    

[vintly]

Aargh got me!

[F1fanaticBD]

 

"Go Vettel Go" Oops i didn't mean to end up in the bush with your car upside down, but as you have done that far, can you please stay like that for rest of the season please

[John S]

Sorry to spoil this jolly Vettel baiting but to return to the topic for a minute, isn't this self Merc requested punishment really a slap in the face for Todt's FIA? For such a minimal punishment to be handed out when the FIA counsel was so adamant that the test had seriously breached not just one, but two  articles of the sporting code.

IMHO the tribunal has really put the cat amongst the pigeons allowing the mitigation of qualified approval, can you imagine how tough the WMSC would have been about this?  I'm pretty sure Merc would have been staring at exclusion if this had gone the old route through the WMSC. The council would't have recognised at all Charlie's, or their own lawyers, part in this; - they can't approve a test so they didn't,   would be the head in the sand approach.

I think all the teams should be reassured that this ruling means the years of unchallengeable FIA dictatorship, like McLaren's $100 million fine whilst Renault got virtually nothing for same possessions of others tech, are finally over.  Not a moment too soon either.

   
   

[Irisado]

Having let it all sink in, I'm amazed that Mercedes got off so lightly.  I was expecting a tougher penalty, possibly even a one race ban.  Teams don't normally get let off lightly by the FIA, except during the period when Ferrari had a secret deal with the FIA during the Schumacher era.

I do feel sorry for Pirelli though.  I feel as though the FIA is making them a scapegoat for its own failure to put its house in order.  The FIA really should be examining itself in the light of this.  It's really a bit silly when their technical delegate gives the okay, yet somehow this actually doesn't mean it's okay.  Bizarre.

[vintly]

I think the fact that no penalties were levied shows that the FIA knows they were part of the problem. For sure they are examining themselves in the light of this - Whiting should never have given the go ahead to use the 2013 car.

As I said before, shoddy rules make for grey areas, this is all on the FIA for letting it happen.

Bernie, Whiting, Mosely, many others probably – they've cobbled together this monster, and now they bodge it as they go along. It's hilarious, that so much money and so many top legal minds get embroiled in spats about rules that aren't watertight, hence the spats. I enjoy it, it makes for more 'circus'. It's like the clowns coming on in-between the big cats heh. Or rabbits, in the case of Silverstone...