I'm with Helmut and Horner, Mercedes has had awful tyre wear problems for ages, a quick and fairly secretive tyre test and they suddenly stop going backwards. Why couldn't Pirelli use a backmarker team with their own driver? Isn't that the whole point of the rules and having Alguersari as pirelli test driver. It's a ****ing joke.
Point 1: We didn't get to see the true extent of Mercedes' tyre wear today because they were able to put new tyres on after the red flag. Point 2: It was next year's tyres. Point 3: Mercedes put no new upgrades on the car today.
Monaco GP: Sergio Perez should be punched says Kimi Raikkonen McLaren driver Perez made a series of aggressive overtaking moves, in one of which he collided with Raikkonen. Asked if the drivers would talk to Perez, Raikkonen said: "That won't help. Maybe someone should punch him in the face." Perez said: "Kimi put me straight in the wall at the entry to the corner." The incident gave Raikkonen a puncture, and he dropped from fifth place to finish 10th. Perez damaged his front wing in the incident and eventually retired close to the end of the race when his brakes failed.
point 1: their tyres were in very good nick after the first stop unlike the others point 2. and how much different are they? I'd guess they were almost exactly the same point 3. they had 3 days of testing with the opportunity of trying various setups, that is a massive advantage Pirelli have a test driver, and the testing rules are a car 2 years old, not a brand new one and Mercedes team drivers, that is a ****ing joke and looks like Jean Todt of the FIA is doing his very good buddy Ross Brawn a big favour.
Miggin's, the set-up point is probably largely irrelevant, Pirelli wanted a stable base, so all the compounds tested would have been on the same set-up. And we don't know how similar the tyres are, but we thought the 2012 and 2013 tyres were going to be similar, but this year like last they've proven tricky to understand. I expect 2014's to be a continuation of that theme. As for the tyre deg being good, it really helps when you aren't chasing anyone. Vettel took an awful lot out of his tyres early on, whilst Rosberg and Hamilton did a lot less, particularly Rosberg.
Ian Parkes ‏@ianparkesf1 6m FIA drop Mercedes and Pirelli in it from a great height, FIA claims it was not properly informed by either with regard to secret tyre test. Don't know who he is but Chandhok retweeted him
Vettels fastest lap was blistering, [TABLE="class: raceResults, width: 715"] [TR] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Pos[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]No[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Driver[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Team[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Lap[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Time Of Day[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Avg Speed[/TH] [TH="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Time[/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Sebastian Vettel[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Red Bull Racing-Renault[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]77[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]16:19:50[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]157.018[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1:16.577[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]2[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]7[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Kimi Räikkönen[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Lotus-Renault[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]78[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]16:21:43[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]155.364[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1:17.392[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]3[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]10[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Lewis Hamilton[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Mercedes[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]76[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]16:18:36[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]153.891[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1:18.133[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]4[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]2[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Mark Webber[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Red Bull Racing-Renault[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]77[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]16:19:53[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]153.637[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1:18.262[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]5[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]15[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Adrian Sutil[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Force India-Mercedes[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]74[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]16:16:12[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]153.578[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1:18.292[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]6[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]9[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Nico Rosberg[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]Mercedes[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]74[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]16:15:52[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF, align: center"]153.510[/TD] [TD="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]1:18.327[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Red Bull topped the pitstop chart as well: [TABLE="width: 60%"] [TR] [TD="align: left"]Driver[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Car[/TD] [TD="align: right"]Lap[/TD] [TD="align: right"]Time[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #F0F0F0"] [TD="align: left"]Mark Webber[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Red Bull/Renault[/TD] [TD="align: right"]25[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.316[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: left"]Sebastian Vettel[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Red Bull/Renault[/TD] [TD="align: right"]30[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.375[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #F0F0F0"] [TD="align: left"]Kimi Räikkönen[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Lotus/Renault[/TD] [TD="align: right"]26[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.420[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: left"]Fernando Alonso[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Ferrari[/TD] [TD="align: right"]28[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.489[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #F0F0F0"] [TD="align: left"]Romain Grosjean[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Lotus/Renault[/TD] [TD="align: right"]30[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.565[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: left"]Jenson Button[/TD] [TD="align: left"]McLaren/Mercedes[/TD] [TD="align: right"]26[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.585[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #F0F0F0"] [TD="align: left"]Sergio Pérez[/TD] [TD="align: left"]McLaren/Mercedes[/TD] [TD="align: right"]29[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.672[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: left"]Lewis Hamilton[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Mercedes[/TD] [TD="align: right"]31[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.801[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #F0F0F0"] [TD="align: left"]Jean-Eric Vergne[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Toro Rosso/Ferrari[/TD] [TD="align: right"]29[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.827[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="align: left"]Nico Hülkenberg[/TD] [TD="align: left"]Sauber/Ferrari[/TD] [TD="align: right"]27[/TD] [TD="align: right"]24.974[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
How do you know this? Pirelli have said that, but they've sneaked around behind everyone's back to hold those tests. No one knows what went on at that test, if they had nothing to hide they wouldn't have done it in secret.
Mmm, this whole thing is fishy. A 'secret' tyre test that wasn't hidden from anyone, yet the 'secret' comes out just in time for this race and now it's a **** storm. Pirelli should just pull out: how can it be worth all the trouble? All they have ever done is fulfil their brief.
Am I missing something here? I thought Pirelli were told to offer this opportunity to all the other teams but didn't.
Can just imagine all the teams packing up in future keeping an eye on each other to see if anyones staying behind for a secret test See who can leave the circuit last since Ferrari and Mercedes both got away with it.
I'm probably missing something too but, as far as I know, everyone was offered but only a few teams accepted to make themselves available. What I find fishy is that, apparently, no one knew until today something which happened at a major international circuit two weeks ago.
Perez has to listen to Button whinge and whine and Chilton drives a Marussia, surely punishment enough?
The FIA directive is that all teams should be equal to any offer, whether or not they decide to take it up. My understanding is that no specific communication was made to reiterate this point on this particular occasion, although I may well be wrong. I should also like to say that in principle there ought be no need for such reiteration. I'd like to repeat that. I could be wrong about the whole thing. However, it does not seem unreasonable (to me) to draw attention to any relevant article of The Sporting Regulations – which in this instance would include 22.4 – in response to the slightest exceptional request by any party; regardless of presumptions about who should know what, simply to be on the safe side – and in particular when such obvious questions might be raised! The danger is that in not doing so, one or more party may be tempted to consider that one or more other party somehow had 'permission', which they may cite in defence of (or to deflect culpability from) their own decision. Obviously, if there is any doubt, clarification ought to be sought. But it seems equally obvious that in this instance, the actions of some were not being communicated to all other interested parties. In a sense, any such lack of communication may exacerbate the potential for misunderstanding and disgruntlement; and in this sense, the FIA should look at themselves to see if their own system of communication be improved to prevent just such occurrences.
Aus 09 was official too but FIA changed that result. The whole thing just reeks at the moment. How could the whole of the F1 paddock/media not notice an F1 car pounding around Barcelona for 3 days!? Not one eyebrow raised at all?
Exactly! And no one knew anything about it for two weeks until, suddenly, on the day of the next race, it all came out.
Please remind me of how well the Mercedes held the SS tyres in Australia It's the heat and the harder tyres they struggle with..
