Mercedes reveals why a tire infraction occurred and the good faith shown to avoid a potential sporting penalty from the FIA.
Mercedes F1 avoided sporting penalties for modifying and announcing its tire pressures after the wheels had already been mounted on the W15 cars, just before the race restart in Brazil. Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ Chief Engineering Director, explains in detail why the FIA refrained from issuing a sporting sanction against the team.
“The issue was that when we received the message for the restart, we immediately had only ten minutes left,” Shovlin stated. “Tires need to be mounted on the car five minutes before the end of that period. This meant we had only a few minutes to bring the tires to the car, mount them, and have them checked by the FIA.”
“This didn’t work out. In Brazil, the layout of the pit lane is unusual. The garages are elevated, so we have to descend either by going around the pit lane entrance or through a much higher gate. Given our garage position, we had to carry the tires quite a distance to reach the car.”
This led to adjustments on the cars: “The set we requested, which was not a set on racks but rather one on trolleys to facilitate movement, had not been adjusted to race pressures at that point.”
“Engineers request different tire pressures. The tire technicians then rush around to ensure all sets are ready. These particular tire sets were not yet finished.”
“Once we placed them on the car, we ran into the five-minute limit, which carries a serious penalty if not respected. We had to fit them on the car, and while we started adjusting the pressures, we simply ran out of time.”
The FIA had no issue with the pressures themselves: “They were satisfied that the tires were at the correct pressure. The only concern was that the scrutineer hadn’t been there to supervise the adjustment before they were fitted to the car. That’s why we were summoned by the stewards.”
The stewards justified the decision not to issue a sporting penalty by noting the team had been forced to rush the pressure check, as Shovlin confirmed: “They acknowledged that there was no sporting advantage and that we complied with all regulations regarding tire pressure.”
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Inside Mercedes’ Tire Mix-Up and FIA’s Leniency Call Inside Mercedes’ Tire Mix-Up and FIA’s Leniency Call
