FIA allows teams to use race drivers at Young Drivers Test for “tyre development work”

2013 F1 season

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The FIA has announced teams will be allowed to run their race drivers in the forthcoming Young Drivers’ Test as F1 seeks a solution to the tyre problems which affected yesterday’s British Grand Prix.

FIA president Jean todt said: “Our priority is to ensure safety for all in Formula One and we believe the incidents at Silverstone represent a genuine safety concern for the drivers.”

“We have thus taken the decision to alter the Young Driver Test to allow teams to use drivers they deem fit to carry out tyre development work in a bid to solve the problems we saw at the British Grand Prix.

“I believe it is fitting to carry out this work at the circuit upon which the issues were manifested.”

The test takes places on July 17th to 19th, after this weekend’s German Grand Prix. However the FIA added the length of the test may be extended by one day.

The FIA intends to allow drivers “who have competed in more than two F1 World Championship events provided it is clear that the purpose of them doing this is to test tyres for Pirelli”.

The sport’s governing body it has “asked Pirelli for an assurance that there will be no repetition of the tyre problems at this weekend’s German Grand Prix or at subsequent grand prix [sic].”

In order to accommodate the change to the testing plan the FIA requires the agreement of teams to amend article 22.4h (i) of the Sporting Regulations and article 12.6.3 of the Technical Regulations. These govern the dates on which testing may take place and changes to tyre specifications.

The FIA added Mercedes has agreed not to participate in the test following the ruling handed down by the International Tribunal last month.

Red Bull had previously announced Antonio Felix da Costa and Carlos Sainz Jnr would drive for them at the test.

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Keith Collantine
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140 comments on “FIA allows teams to use race drivers at Young Drivers Test for “tyre development work””

  1. So is it still called Young Drivers Test? or just “Bring Whoever You Like” Test?:P

    Good for FIA for reacting afterall. It’s needed… if it brings a solution, more than welcomed !

    1. True it will probably be hard on the Young ones, but what else can be done?…

      Maybe they can arrenge another “Young” drivers test for the end of the year?

      1. Do they have another young driver test??? ABU DHABI, SILVERSTONE, and I forgot the last venue, or do they have 3 young driver tests???

      2. @celeste What would they actually have to test at the end of the year though, considering these cars are going on the scrapheap after this season?

        1. Drivers.

        2. @George YDT has nothing to do with the cars, at least in principle, is to allow new drivers and Young promises to gain experience in F1

          As @cyclonetog is to test drivers, not cars or parts

          1. @celeste They could test drivers in a 2 year old car though…

          2. @george they could, but it’s better for the drivers to test the current cars

          3. @oel-f1 That’s my point though, at the end of the year those cars wont be current any more (or maybe for two more races if they test after Abu Dhabi). What’s the difference testing a 2013 car or a 2011 car when they’ll both be more or less equally different to the 2014 car?

            If the teams really cared about giving those drivers seat time, they could do it any time they wanted. The only way these tests are financially worthwhile for them is to test current or future parts.

    2. Will the drivers be required to wear plain black helmets?

      1. Plain pink would be cool @dane-1

    3. So we now have a full fledged in season test?

    4. After all Pirelli made the right call when they asked Mercedes for help, right?

      1. No, they should have been straight with the other teams… Pirelli was in the wrong, no matter if their intentions were good

    5. It would certainly be a more appropriate name for the test @fer-no65. After all Paffet hasn’t been “young” for a couple of years now!

  2. Well I agree and think this actions were necessary. Hope now that Pirelli was 20 cars and 3 day test can find a solution for this problems

    1. @celeste – I just hope the FIA have an actual plan here. If not, the teams could (and probably will) abandon plans to focus on solving the explosive blow-out problem and instead concentrate on maximising their own performance on the tyres. You know Red Bull will do it without hesitating.

      1. @prisoner-monkeys Along with the other ten teams.

        It would be rather naive to suggest the world champions are the only ones who will exploit any opportunity to gain an advantage. Particularly when it’s not they but their two closest rivals in the championship who’ve been conducting the secret Pirelli tests.

        1. But Red Bull are the only ones complaining about it, and the only ones talking about deliberately breaking the rules.

          My point is that the teams will ignore the intention of the test and concentrate on their own development if they are given half a chance. The FIA needs to have a plan in place to counter that. They won’t be able to stop teams gathering data, but they will be able to monitor what data is gathered. And any team who ignores the purpose of the test should be banned for half a dozen races.

          1. I had a look at the wording of the change to the YDT format @prisoner-monkeys, and from that its pretty clear that the FIA will actually look at not allowing teams to gather data and test parts when they have their regular drivers in the cars.
            We already heard how they can use SW with the Pirelli log on/licence which makes the data unavailable for the teams. Off course in this situation its well possible that Pirelli will actually share all data gathered first with the FIA, but also with all the teams.

  3. That’s a goodbye for all the new/old young drivers we could’ve seen… Ferrari certainly won’t bother calling up someone else, Bianchi maybe but I don’t think so. Will Red Bull still bring da Costa and Sainz? Probably.

    1. Red Bull does have two teams, so I imagine their young guys will get a go in the STR while Vettel and Webber do all the work in the RB9. Perhaps we will also see a return for Kovalainen in the Caterham? They clearly value his feedback.

      1. I think all teams should run their regular drivers line up.

        1. No use running Webber since he’s not gonna be back next year, put JEV Ricardo or Da Costa in the 4th RB car (be it Webbers seat at RB or whoever he’s replacing at STR) & that way they can use the data (atleast aero wise) to start to build a platform for next year to determine how close Vettel and one of his potential teammates are.

    2. Ferrari wouldn’t have called up Bianchi anyway, even if it was a propper Young Driver test. They wouldn’t be allowed because he’s started a Grand Prix in the last two years. They would’ve ran Davide Rigon

    3. Alonso and Massa will only be allowed to work on a Pirelli tyre test. Don’t see why Ferrari would be so much interested in just that.

      If Ferrari (or any other team) wants to test new parts then they’ll need to call on Young Drivers. I don’t see why they wont do both.

  4. I’m glad the FIA, Pirelli and the teams got to a sensible outcome. I do think it’s a shame we’ll probably end up seeing 1 or 2 young drivers getting track time, but I’d rather see this becoming a tyre test, than a ‘getting ready to replace an injured driver’ test..

  5. Not sure if it’s been mentioned elsewhere on this website, but it has been confirmed that this test will be open to fans. And with the proper race drivers, all the more reason to attend! I hope the paddock area is less constricted than it is on race weekends. Doubt it though…

    1. Oh i am going to need more info on this!!

    2. it is open to the public. I believe the tickets are 15

  6. Button made a comment this weekend that there is less top line experience drivers than there are Top team seats up for grabs. But is it a surprise the young drivers dont get a chance to get up to speed. Alonso/Webber/Hamilton/Vettel all had alot of testing before even entering a race with a big team, the current drivers dont get that. Drivers like Algersuari raced their first races without ever even driving the car previously and at the age 21 he was thrown on the scrap heap, as will be whoever doesnt get picked out STR pair.

    The days of promoting your test driver seem long gone. We are now seeing the long term bad effect with older drivers retiring and no one seemingly worthy as a replacement.

    1. I think they should consider bringing back the 3rd car for Friday practise. I have no ideas about what the costs might be for reintroducing that, but there was never a better time in F1 for test drivers than when they could participate in Friday practice. I used to actually know who all the test drivers were and what team they belonged to. It was exciting to watch them, you could learn a bit about how good they are and they got a lot of valuable experience. Nowadays the test driver position is nearly meaningless.

      It’d be especially important in case one of the race drivers got injured or sick and couldn’t race. Say something happened in FP3 for example, then they’d already have some experience before jumping into the car for qualifying. Now the situation is that it’s better to rely on someone like Pedro de la Rosa (nothing bad about Pedro) instead of using your own test driver.

      1. Zantkiller (@)
        1st July 2013, 20:39

        I don’t why but that comment just made me want Pirelli to be allowed to run their test car during the Friday practise sessions.
        I don’t think they would really get much useful data from it but it would be nice for the fans to see a car out in those practise sessions.

  7. Is this means that Robin Frijns will get cheated out of his test I’m going to be ******.

    1. What is more important: that the teams try and solve the tyre problems, or that a promising rookie driver gets to have a go?

      This is not a difficult question.

  8. Mercedes not being allowed is a complete joke.

    1. The wording of the article seems ambiguous as to whether Mercedes was actually permitted but denied it anyway, or were they just straight-up not allowed… Big difference.

      But maybe people will finally shut the hell up about this whole ‘illegal’ tire test scenario.

      1. I think that it means that Mercedes have said they are not going to protest if the FIA changes the ruling, about whether they should be allowed to take part in the additional testing, that’s probably because they would only be allowed the 1 extra day of testing and in terms of costs to do just 1 day of testing it’s not beneficial for them at all.

      2. I would say its Mercedes have “gentlemanly” agreed to keep with their ban because they know as well as everyone else that they came off lightly.

        And its possible that they had their team members sent off for a couple of days off already based on the verdict (or are they planning another private test with Pirelli :-P)

    2. Ben (@scuderia29)
      2nd July 2013, 3:15

      @bigCHrome why? mercedes have already taken part in a test, now its just the turn of all the other teams

    3. In my opinion Mercedes participating in this test would be a complete joke.

      So, it looks like the “Young Driver’s Test” can be incredibly beneficial after all? Well, tough luck. That’s what you get for trying to bend the rules. Some people thought that their penalty was too lenient, but now the circumstances have changed and I think it’s actually very fitting.

      1. +1
        exactly my thoughts

      2. @maroonjack …except it’s not a Young Drivers Test anymore, is it? You have Race Drivers participating, after all. That was Mercedes’ punishment. Good on Mercedes for doing the right thing for the greater good, even if they are seemingly being hard-done by.

        1. @journeyer

          …except it’s not a Young Drivers Test anymore, is it?

          Well, technically it is. Look carefully at the wording:

          teams will be allowed to run their race drivers in the forthcoming Young Drivers’ Test

          1. @maroonjack That loophole is the size of a black hole, though…

  9. Should have been done several races ago, but better late than never I suppose.

  10. I think that’s an awful decision: if the tyres need to be tested they should hold a separate test. As it is the young drivers are taking all the punishment for the FIA’s incompetence and it’s simply not fair.

    I can respect the decision from a safety persective but there are better fixes than this.

    1. I think this is the fairest possible outcome. Everyone else now gets what Mercedes got, so effectively the Tribunals absurd ruling has become moot.

      1. “Everyone else now gets what Mercedes got”

        No they dont, they get alot more. They are getting to run development parts, and they know exactly what tyres they are running on, and longer to run on them.

        Merc are losing out big time from this.

        1. @N – good.

          1. No, not good. N’s point is that the punishment is now as disproportionate to the offence as it was before the decision to let full-time drivers take part.

            If anything, Mercedes should be let into the test because whatever data they gathered in Barcelona could be used to solve the problems.

          2. @vettel1 Why is it good ? ..Isn’t your belief always equality . As per your own logic , 1 day of extra testing can indeed do wonders .

            I think it is a fair decision by the FIA that addresses everything , the safety , Test Hungry Red Bull fans , Anti – Red Bull fans , Fans frustrated with Merc tyregate . So everyone can be happy . At last FIA do something about it , in the the eleventh hour . If only they had done this earlier

          3. Sorry for the above post . Font error .. I was too bold there

          4. @hamilfan
            It’s good that they get a real punishment now (if this test will be more useful than the one Mercedes had) instead of just taking away the advantage they got which isn’t a penalty at all. And besides I’m not even sure the original decision would have done that.

          5. @prisoner-monkeys I disagree. When you break the rules, the ‘punishment’ should not simply to redress the balance. If you steal something from a shop, you don’t just get told to give it back. While I think the testing ban is absolutely absurd, it doesn’t give anyone the right to simply ignore it. And if you break the rules you should be disadvantaged by it. Otherwise where is the disincentive from breaking the rules?

          6. @mazdachris – When Mercedes were given the penalty in the first place, it was considered a fair penalty by the FIA. They elected not to contest it. However, in the time since, the situation has changed, and as a result, the penalty is now far greater than the one originally given that the FIA considered fair and which Mercedes agreed to.

            There is a difference between discouraging the rules from being broken and using excessive force. Especially when Mercedes’ participation could help solve the blow-out problem.

        2. Are there still people left clinging to the belief that Mercedes did not how what tyres they were running on? Even though both Rosberg and Hamilton said otherwise?

          1. I am sure that the mechanics and other team members have been around enough tires to know the difference between compounds. No one can honestly say that they believe Merc is being truthful when they said they didn’t which tires they were using.
            So while I agree that Mercedes deserved to be punished, I also feel that Pirelli should be allowed to run tests on their tires on a regular basis. It is a safety matter after all.

          2. I said exactly knowing what tyres they’re running. There is a difference between accurate knowledge and guesstimations.

            If you know Merc knew exactly what tyres they were running around on, then i suppose you know more than the people at the tribunal.

          3. Oddly enough, the people at the Tribunal never bothered to ask the people involved in doing the actual testing to testify. (Think about THAT for a while) So I can well believe that I know more about what went on than they do. The Tribunal was a well-orchestrated cover-up, not a fact finding exercise.

        3. No they dont, they get alot more. They are getting to run development parts, and they know exactly what tyres they are running on, and longer to run on them.

          Merc are losing out big time from this.

          You are right. They are losing out big time… as well as they should. It’s a sad day for them, but they broke the rules and should be penalized. Now they are getting a real penalty.

    2. Why don’t they simply extend the test by a day, use two days for testing tyres and then two days for the intention of the test? That way it doesn’t eat in to the time allocation for the young drivers too badly either.

    3. The problema is the dates. Inmidiatly after Germany GP it is the YDT so, it is better to hold the tyres test those days to have another race like yesterday.

      YDT can be hold later or after the season ends.

      1. @celeste I agree with the safety ruling but I fear the young drivers will miss out entirely because of it, which isn’t just in my view. Absolutely it’s necessary but not at the expense of drivers like Da Costa.

        @jonsan agreed with that but again I reiterate that I find it unfair that the young drivers should lose out due to the FIA’s incompetence.

        1. @vettel1 As I said, YDT can be rescheduled, so no need to feel outrages for the young drivers.

          Even now we don´t know what RB and the teams will choose for the line up

          1. @celeste I would accept that but I fear it won’t happen :(

            I think it’s pretty much a given though that RB and everyone else will chose to field their race drivers – the data is much more valuable in that case!

          2. @vettel1 I actually think RBR and any other team should choose to drive their regular drivers… so YD will have to wait and hope for it to be rescheduled…

    4. We can just hope for the young drivers that were supposed to get running that the test will indeed be prolonged (its mentioned in the Article that it will, if deemed necessary) at least a day so these guys do get some running in @vettel1

  11. How conservative Formula One has become. Let’s just let every former world champion race until they are 40 or 50 years old and skip a generation. What a rip-off for the new talent. What a shame. Atleast Sam Bird won’t be sitting by himself on the sidelines.

    1. @ferrox-glideh Given the quality of driving we’re seeing in GP2, that may not be such a bad idea… Still, the good ones will get into F1, YDT or no YDT.

  12. So this actually means Mercedes’ punishment carries a bit more weight. Funny how things work out.

    1. Two birds one stone?

      This automatically gives Mercedes a harsh (IMH- just) punishment and Pirelli get the benefit of feedback from race drivers in 2013 cars.

      1. Agreed. It’s the best solution for Pirelli to very quickly gain a huge amount of current data to look at, and it now essentially makes the FIA’s previously pointless punishment for Merecedes a fair punishment that should nullify the advantage they gained over other teams.

      2. sumedh- two Birds one stone! I see what you did there- good one!

    2. Good decision by the FIA. There is really no choice as Spa is the next GP where those tyres wouldn’t hold up. There is a gap of 3 weeks between Germany and Hungary, and then there is the four-week summer break before Spa, which is probably unsuitable for testing as it would cause a lot of disruption as everybody will be on their deserved holidays.

    3. Is the tribunal ruling now invalid, because it is not a young drivers’ test anymore!!?

      1. Ah sorry. Usually quite good at doing this but I should have read the comments directly below. my bad.

    4. I was thinking the same thing. In terms of ‘real’ testing time, Mercedes will be behind the development curve after the YDT. Turns out the ‘secret’ test bit them in the a** after all.

    5. Because Mercedes actually sandbagging their cars prior the tribunal, and said –minimum benefit–. Once cleared off, they can show full potential like we saw in the British GP. Now they can eat what they did!

  13. In order to accommodate the change to the testing plan the FIA requires the agreement of teams to amend article 22.4h (i) of the Sporting Regulations and article 12.6.3 of the Technical Regulations. These govern the dates on which testing may take place and changes to tyre specifications.

    Would have been funny to have Mercedes veto these changes, or to argue that they would be allowed to test if it is no longer a YDT, but I suppose they prefer to keep a low profile at the moment ;-)

    Anyway, let’s hope this test puts an end to tyre failures, as apart from the obvious safety risk, it is also no fun to have the championship decided by random tyre failures.

    1. @adrianmorse

      or to argue that they would be allowed to test if it is no longer a YDT, but I suppose they prefer to keep a low profile at the moment

      The FIA already foresaw that argument:

      Notwithstanding the revised conditions as set out above, in the interests of the sport the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team has accepted to not participate in this test, as per the recent decision of the International Tribunal.

      1. The FIA already foresaw that argument

        By now, they are probably wary of the “brains of Brawn” (dedicated to the noble cause of finding loopholes).

        1. Show me a team in F1 who doesn’t live to find loopholes! LOL

  14. Understandable decision, let’s just hope they decide to have another young driver test later during the year!

  15. Where’s that echoing sound of silence coming from? Oh, it’s the all the people who were just recently blasting SV/RB for saying the tyres were a safety issue which needed fixing. Well, moving along …

    1. @jonsan, that’s because initially, Red Bull were complaining mostly about the tyres not allowing them to push, that F1 was too much about tyre management/preservation. Then later, Vettel said they were only concerned about the safety.

    2. I am one of those and I think Red Bull’s pressuring contributed to this situation. Pirelli was forced to bring modified tires without testing them first and we all know how that turned out. If they brought tires used in Bahrain and Spain, there would be no problems. Maybe someone would get a delamination, but we got through whole Spanish race without a single tire failure.

      I still think that delamination is the safest way for a tire to deflate AFTER it’s been punctured, but I do think that situations that are causing delaminations need to be fixed because it seems that tire is too prone to some particular type of damage that is leading to these failures.

      One other thing to keep in mind is, that as I see most of this forum is unaware of, that most if not all of the teams, are switching around rear tires. I’m surprised that nobody thinks this could be the case, because it’s ALWAYS left read that fails. Bahrain, Barcelona and Silverstone. It was never even right rear, but only left rear on three different tracks. I think Pirelli should tell teams that if they wanna put their tires the wrong way around for performance, they are doing so at their own peril. Teams are switching the tires around because it makes a difference. So, if it makes a difference for performance, it matters for all of the dynamics that come into play when it comes to tire deformations, loads etc., which means that the tire is definitely subjected to some forces it wouldn’t be subjected to if it was bolted the right way.

      1. I am one of those and I think Red Bull’s pressuring contributed to this situation.

        I don’t see how. Red Bull weren’t the ones blocking Pirelli from switching to the Kevlar belted tyres (assuming that would have solved the problem).

        as I see most of this forum is unaware of

        I don’t know why you’re making that assumption as was first mentioned here weeks ago.

        most if not all of the teams, are switching around rear tires

        The fact that the left rear tyres have failed surely has more to do with the fact the three circuits where we have seen most of the problems (Bahrain, Catalunya, Silverstone) are all clockwise, therefore the left-hand tyres sustain higher loadings.

  16. hopefully this whole mess will be the end of pirelli in f1.

    then we can bring in a tyre supplier to make proper tyres that can be raced hard.

    when the tyres on my road car needed replacing a few weeks ago we ditched our worn pirelli tyres & picked up a set of bridgestone’s!

    1. Pirelli can make tires that can be raced hard too, but they were asked not to. It doesn’t matter who they bring in with the current regulations as they’ll be required to make easily degrading tires too.

      1. Precisely.

    2. Good for you.
      Now you can expect this:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkPdXMHBNC4

      Best regards.

    3. as @metallion said, they produced what they were asked to produce. It’s actually quite an impressive display of how welll they understand tyre technology.

      The tyre war era created tyres that the teams could have run for the whole race. I’m pretty sure that’s why the rule about running both available compounds was brought in when refuelling was banned, there would have been almost zero pitstops otherwise.

      1. pirelli were asked to make tyres that required 2-3 stops, from there its been upto pirelli how they made the tyres.

        in 2011 the tyres were ok, they went a bit more extreme for 2012 & even more extreme for 2013 with softer compounds, steel bets & different side wall constructions. they were never asked to do this they just did it of there own accord so all of the bad we have seen with 2013 tyres is purely pirelli’s fault. they should have stuck with 2012 tyres & not made 2013 tyres as extreme as they have, thats why we have problems.

        i did not mind tyres in 2011 or 2012, but 2013 tyres are complete joke, pirelli should be kicked out of f1 for bringing f1 2013 into disrepute with rubbish tyres & secret testing which has given mercedes a big advantage in helping them fix tyre wear problems.

        1. Yeah but the cars change, the levels of downforce are very different from 2011 and the way the downforce is generated, add to that the fact that the teams learn how to use the tires more efficiently, you’d possibly end up with 1 stop races if they used the same compounds in 2013.

    4. I mentioned it in another post, but Pirelli has been in a no win situation with F1 from the get go.

    5. Loosing a customer like you , is what happens to pirelli at the end . Remember Pirelli were asked to make these types of tyre with no data , no testing , no car , nothing . I don’t blame them .

  17. So random question, are teams still limited to 2 cars for these tests or could they for example bring 4 cars with 2 being race drivers & 2 being young/test drivers and then have all 4 cars competing in the test at the same time?

    1. Well, they are only allowed to “overlap” drivers in pre season testing. Ergo drivers either do a full day for the team, or change over at lunchtime.
      Not sure on specific rules for YDT but pretty sure the rules on track access would be pretty much identical.

      1. sorry, top line should say “…NOT allowed…”

  18. It’s all starting to get embarrassing now. Pirelli have produced a dangerously built trye and the epesement is a tyre test without merc.

  19. Dave365753737373
    1st July 2013, 21:11

    “The FIA intends to allow drivers “who have competed in more than two F1 World Championship events provided it is clear that the purpose of them doing this is to test tyres for Pirelli””
    This year’s next big scandal – you heard it here first. I’m half joking, but who writes these rules? This is a perfect example of the FIA’s idiocy and inability to consider what they’re actually prescribing. All they have to do is produce solid guidelines instead of these well intentioned but hopelessly vague rules that invite abuse, waste everybody’s time fighting over and produce pages and pages of tedious editorial that detracts from what we should be talking about – motor racing. It sounds absurd yet the way things are going I almost believe someone could get a race ban for using old tyres during this test. You think it would be fresh in the memory but they just don’t get it. This incompetence is funny really, except that at the moment it’s literally dangerous.

    And what do you younglings do now??? The real car crashes in F1 are the ones that seem to happen in slow motion in an office in Paris.

  20. Was hoping to see Di Costa in RB and Koba in Ferrari.

    1. @ivano I you apply Young Driver Test Kobashi couldn´t run the test… now he can

      1. @celeste

        Yeah, you’re right. I’m always thinking the young driver’s test is open to reserve drivers as well.

        1. Just to leave it all clear, Kobayashi is not a reserve driver for Ferrari, Marc Gene is. And Pedro de la Rosa is the developer.

          1. @celeste

            Yeah, that I know. I’m just getting hopeful. Though isn’t Fisichella still on the books as a reserve driver as well?

            Well, maybe now they can use Bianchi?

          2. If Ferrari is smart they will run Alonso and Massa, IMHO…

            Bianchi will use the time to learn more about his car…

          3. Which means they could well end up running Pedro, Fernando and Felipe!

  21. Can the teams alternate more than 2 drivers in these test?

  22. where is this test on and what dates?

    1. Silverstone on July 17-19.

      Test is open to the fans.

  23. Just to clarify, the teams are allowed to use their regular race drivers only for the tyre development work, not for car development work. If they want to do the latter then they must use “young drivers”.

    I suspect most teams will do some of both.

  24. When Lewis’ tyre blew, I thought ‘Karma is a b…’
    So it turns out to be even a bigger one.

    1. Why? He was doing what his employer asked him to do. HAM didn’t make the decision to do the test.

      1. But Mercedes did, and HAM drives a Mercedes.

    2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      2nd July 2013, 0:46

      1) Were you also thinking that karma is a b**** when Massa’s, Vergne’s and Perez’s tyres blew?

      2) No such thing as Karma.

  25. This seems sensible to me. Perhaps adding a day like they have suggested will allow the young drivers to get in a good amount of testing as well as a fair amount for tyre testing from the regulars. Also, testing these tyres on a circuit where these incidents happened seems logical and should give good feedback in order to sort this whole affair.

  26. Well, if the YTD is overtaken by a Tyre test based on a safety issue, then technically, Mercedes cannot be excluded from it – as the test is now significantly different from what is was supposed to be; hence the ban will be invalid. Also, they FIA can be found negligent if Mercedes were to have another accident again – due to not being allowed to participate in the test, despite having suffered a safety issue with the tyres themselves.

    Merc have always argued that the tyres used in their “secret” test were for 2014 and they had no idea of the compounds. They also argued that they did not compile any significant amount of data from the test. The International Tribunal did NOT contest these points with them.

    The FIA are really going to be in a bind about this, as Merc will certainly not take it lying down.

    1. As mentioned in the article, Mercedes have agreed not to participate in this test even now that its not a clear YDT as was mentioned in the verdict @kbdavies

  27. Always the pessimist. I predict a week of rain during the test, therefore achieving nothing.
    While I have the rostrum, why would you place your frontline drivers in the cars for the test? Its like a human being used to test a bullet-proof vest. I believe they call them Crash-Test Dummies. I can understand RB putting Webber in the car though ;)
    I also predict Alonso, Kimi & Lewis will have other important matters to attend to on the test days.

  28. Its amazing how after we have had 4 tyre blow outs in 1 race the FIA have realized that Pirelli need some form of tyre testing with a current spec car and that all teams need to be able to participate. I think we will see more tyre tests in the near future now. It shouldn’t have taken 4 tyre blow outs and consistent graveling with the FIA from Pirelli to test and improve there tyres.

  29. Ross Brawn must be kicking himself now.

    1. Actually I think he could feel vindicated because by now it looks far less dodgy that they saw the need to “help pirelli”. And off course this test allowing normal drivers in means we can stop discussing how its not real punishment for the team too @wsrgo

      1. I very much doubt he chose to do the secret test to “help Pirelli”

  30. So in the young driver test, can the teams bolt new things on the car to test , I mean, can they take it as the normal in -season testing ?

    1. yes, @gill, they can test more or less whatever they want on the cars.

  31. The sensible thing to do. They should do an extra young drivers test at the end of the season.

  32. Jan (@yancheelaa)
    2nd July 2013, 7:20

    I really need to write this. I love the F1, but what a laugh is it these days, just rules being made up over night, the tyre thing is just making the championship maybe fun to watch, but where is the objectivity…? FIA should look deep in themselves and Bernie should go, enjoy the retirement but never return again…

  33. To be honest. If mercedes did their private test in good faith. This is quite an disadvantage to them. It’s quite unfair.
    The punishment was to take away a “YOUNG driver test”, not a “Race driver test” . Having changing the nature of the testing, I think mercedes should be allowed into the test, and find an equivalent punishment to replace.

    It’s like if you lost the bet to your mate and was to shout him for a lunch at a food court, and now you were to change the venue to a 3 stars restaurant and this is not the same punishment.

  34. Wonder if we will see a race driver using a rookie’s helmet when not carrying out tyre development work?
    Kimi may need to borrow Davide Valsecchi’s helmet.

  35. The FIA intends to allow drivers “who have competed in more than two F1 World Championship events provided it is clear that the purpose of them doing this is to test tyres for Pirelli”.

    I wonder is and how they are going to police this, and what do they mean by test tyres for Pirelli? Does that mean Pirelli determines the test programme, and they are only allowed to run parts that they have already raced? Somehow I feel this formulation opens the door to more controversy.

  36. I wonder is and how they are going to police this

    @adrianmorse Well, I guess if we see Nando doing constant speed runs down the start/finish straight, we can be fairly confident he’s not focussed on the tyres :-)

  37. Melchior (@)
    2nd July 2013, 9:42

    I like this development from the FIA although i hope that the young drivers still get a chance to have a run in the cars.
    Clearly Mercedes (as witnessed at Silverstone) have gone a long way in solving their rear tyre wear issues,probably due to their recent clandestine test so it is only fair that the other teams be allowed to test.

  38. Legally Merc should be able to participate in this event as it’s no longer the ‘Young Driver’s Test’ they are banned from.

    Since safety is primary concern, Merc is the prime candidate for meaningful data, as opposed to Lotus, Force India, Ferrari, etc…..

    Hopefully EMOTIONS can be taken out of this and sense can prevail.

    1. Merc have said they will not participate. Why do you think Merc is the prime candidate for meaningful data over the other teams? is it because they are your favourite team? as for tyre delaminations, that problem can be fixed without merc at the test, as there will be many “representative” cars testing. As for gaining/losing an advantate: Merc had their test, and suddenly they have won 2 races and all their tyre wear problems disappeared, maybe this test for the other teams will put the performance levels between the cars back to where they would have been had merc not cheated – at the end of the season merc still have the advantage as maybe they got 2 wins they might not otherwise have had.

    2. Ferrari have experienced more tyre failures than Mercedes.

  39. I’ve got my ticket :)

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