Should FIA put brakes on tyre critisisms by teams?

[John S]

Given Pirelli's behaviour with the Mercedes test, the only way to decontaminate the 2014 championship would be to expel Pirelli from the championship (2013 is already fatally compromised).

I would like to differ here Alianora, because I believe Pirelli did nothing wrong while testing tyre with a manufacturer, which they are allowed to ask and conduct. And they kept all the information gathered from the test within themselves. If anybody is the guilty party in this saga, its Mercedes, as they have used a current spec car, which is not legal

Hey you've been having lunch with Bernie again BD.     

[Monty]

I have already suggested that Alia and I will have to agree to disagree but I still cannot understand why this situation has caused such strong opinions.
Mercedes would have got zero competitive advantage from the 'test' (unless you think that Lewis would sharpen his talents by getting another 1000km in the car - which I doubt).
Pirelli were getting hammered by the press, the pundits, the teams and the fans and therefore had to do something to understand the tyres if they were going to complete 2013 and move on to 2014.
All in all, it was a sensible, pragmantic and opportune method of assessing  the future of Pirelli tyres. As for the notion that it was 'secret' well that is just a joke. There would have been a large number of people still at the track (other teams, track officials, safety staff, tyre technicians, etc., etc.) and at least some of these would be directly or indirectly connected with the FIA.
This simply would not have been a problem if Red Bull had not registered a complaint.

[Jericoke]

I have already suggested that Alia and I will have to agree to disagree but I still cannot understand why this situation has caused such strong opinions.
Mercedes would have got zero competitive advantage from the 'test' (unless you think that Lewis would sharpen his talents by getting another 1000km in the car - which I doubt).
Pirelli were getting hammered by the press, the pundits, the teams and the fans and therefore had to do something to understand the tyres if they were going to complete 2013 and move on to 2014.
All in all, it was a sensible, pragmantic and opportune method of assessing  the future of Pirelli tyres. As for the notion that it was 'secret' well that is just a joke. There would have been a large number of people still at the track (other teams, track officials, safety staff, tyre technicians, etc., etc.) and at least some of these would be directly or indirectly connected with the FIA.
This simply would not have been a problem if Red Bull had not registered a complaint.

While I agree with you Monty, I do understand why Ali and others would have a problem with what's going on.

F1 is a multibillion dollar sport. If at any time it appears that one team is given an advantage that other teams are not afforded, it takes the 'sport' element out of it.  IF the FIA doesn't take fair play seriously, they run a very serious risk of losing sports fans.  Why watch a sport if you know it's rigged?

What the FIA, Bernie, Mercedes and Pirelli are banking on is that while F1 is a sport, the multibillion dollar part is an ENTERTAINMENT business.  They hope that fans don't show up just to see who wins, but rather to hear the roar of the engines, the excitement of a pass, the unpredictable nature of drivers doing a live interview on the podium.  If soccer/football can survive flagrant diving without penalising anyone, then surely F1 can survive an illicit tire test without anything more than a warning.

They could very well be wrong, and I would hate to lose any of the friends I have here over this issue, but I can appreciate why a true sporting fan would be ticked about the whole thing.

For me, I just want to see the next race.

[Ian]

You ain't gonna lose any friends on here over having an opinion Jeri, our site thrives on opinions, keep it up Jeri. 

[lkjohnson1950]

Yeah. If Cossie and me can have extremely opposite views on Tony and still be friendly no one should have a problem.

[cosworth151]

That's true, Jeri. We're all here because of our love of F1. We even let in Ferrari fans. 

As far as the tire test, I still suspect that we (the fans) still aren't getting the entire story. I wonder what was said between Merc, Pirelli and Charlie Whiting prior to the test.

[Jericoke]

You ain't gonna lose any friends on here over having an opinion Jeri, our site thrives on opinions, keep it up Jeri. 

Sorry, I don't mean losing friends from my opinions (if that were the case, I'd have lost you all long ago!), I mean that if anyone decides F1 is a farce and stops following the sport entirely.  I'd hate to lose those friends here, though I'd understand why.

[lkjohnson1950]

I think most people are making too much of this. Pirelli said clearly that they needed to test with a current car because the cars had advanced too much in 2 years for the data from the test car to be completely relevant. They made the offer to at least 2 teams, and don't try to convince me that Red Bull declined because they're such good sports, they just didn't see any advantage to be gained. Unless Mercedes goes on a tear here, I doubt they made much gain either. They finished about where you would have expected them to in Canada. And the FIA was informed, Charlie Whiting admitted as much, if he failed to follow up with the proper observers that's Charlie's fault. I think Pirelli's tire choices for the next few races indicate they have given up on the goal of high wear making the racing more interesting. Unless I'm way off, you are about to see a string of Vettel wins which will lock up the championship early.  As long as we are making the competition interesting in what is becoming a spec series, how about every winner has to carry 20 extra kilos of weight for the rest of the season. Bogging Seb down with an extra 100 kilos should make the WDC much more interesting. 

[F1fanaticBD]

Given Pirelli's behaviour with the Mercedes test, the only way to decontaminate the 2014 championship would be to expel Pirelli from the championship (2013 is already fatally compromised).

I would like to differ here Alianora, because I believe Pirelli did nothing wrong while testing tyre with a manufacturer, which they are allowed to ask and conduct. And they kept all the information gathered from the test within themselves. If anybody is the guilty party in this saga, its Mercedes, as they have used a current spec car, which is not legal

Hey you've been having lunch with Bernie again BD.