Tire Testing: Ferrari in the FIA’s Sights
After Mercedes, it's Ferrari's turn to be in the eye of the storm following revelations about tire testing conducted a few weeks before those of the German team, using a 2011 Ferrari.
The “Pirelligate” may be just beginning. Indeed, after the revelations from Mercedes and Pirelli about tire tests held in Barcelona with the car from the current season, after the Grand Prix, the FIA has decided to launch an investigation. But the Brackley team is not the only one under scrutiny, as Ferrari is also under investigation.
The outcry provoked by the revelations about Mercedes’ tests had notably been fueled by Red Bull and Ferrari, who had filed a complaint in Monaco. However, the attention that the FIA paid to Mercedes’ tests led them to discover that a division of Ferrari – Corse Clienti – had conducted tire tests on behalf of Pirelli, two weeks before the star team’s tests, with a two-year-old car, the F150° Italia.
The FIA has asked Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari, who took part in tire testing during the season /f1/actualite/15620-la-fia-va-enqueter-sur-laffaire-mercedesPirelli.html, to respond to a disciplinary inquiry according to the FIA’s judicial and disciplinary rules, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile stated in a press release on Friday evening. This follows the report from the Monaco Grand Prix Stewards and is an additional piece of information requested by the FIA in light of the responses provided by Pirelli, from whom clarifications were sought on Tuesday, May 28.
One of the main grievances raised against the tests conducted by Mercedes was the presence of current season drivers, but especially that they were carried out in the current season’s car, thus potentially gaining an on-track advantage, violating the sporting regulations that limit private testing. On the Scuderia’s side, the tests were reportedly conducted in a 2011 car, under the auspices of Corse Clienti: a scenario that seemed, at first glance, to be legal.
However, the clarifications requested by the authorities raise some doubts about the possibility of performing such tests, even at the wheel of a car that is two years old. Article 22.1 of the Formula 1 sporting regulations leaves room for interpretation on this subject, as it states that: « Tests must be considered as track tests that are not part of an event (a Grand Prix, editor’s note), organized by a competitor registered for the championship, using cars that substantially comply with the current technical rules of Formula 1, as well as those of the previous or following year. »
This rule, which thus sets the framework for private tests to better constrain and control them, does not exclude the possibility that Ferrari may be implicated in this matter. Everything hinges on the interpretation of the term “substantially”: if, in the case of Mercedes, the issue seems clear on this precise point, with the team having used the car from /f1/actualite/15620-la-fia-va-enqueter-sur-laffaire-mercedesPirelli.html, it will be up to the FIA to decide whether the 2011 Ferrari F150° Italia substantially conforms to the technical regulations of the current year and/or the year 2012.
