Red Bull also wants a test
Reports from Silverstone suggest Red Bull is lobbying the FIA to also get a 1000km test with Pirelli. Apparently Red Bull sent a detailed letter to FIA race director Charlie Whiting to understand “under what circumstances they can also go testing with Pirelli“.
It seems strange that Red Bull is writing to Whiting; as we found out during the Tribunal, Whiting has no authority to authorise (or clarify) any testing. Further, the FIA has clarified that, should Pirelli and F1 teams follow the right processes, tyre tests like the one Mercedes did are actually allowed.
Should Red Bull not be writing to Pirelli?
Sauber to leave Formula 1?
Things are going from bad to worse for Hulkenberg. Rumours are running rife that Sauber is about to fold and will probably not be on the grid next year.
Last year Sauber managed to build a really competitive car, one that Perez manage to get on the podium three times and Kobayashi once. The car and aerodynamics was the envy of the paddock however this year they have struggled.
According to swiss correspondant Roger Benoit (Blick) development of the car has stopped due to financial constraints. Further, bills are going unpaid and this is cited as the reason there has been a constant drain of mental capital from the Hinwill based team, the latest leaver being Matt Morris.
When asked what is going on team boss Monisha Kaltenborn said the reason for the lack of development is that negotiations with a potential partner is taking longer than anticipated. “We have been in negotiation for some time with a potential partner,” she said. “The whole thing is taking more time than we thought it would, but we are on track.”
The potential partner is rumoured to be GazProm who recently became a sponsor of Chelsea, the English football club partner of Sauber.
When asked if they will still be on the grid by November Kaltenborn replied, “We have been asked that question since 2010. We are currently going through a difficult phase, but we will continue in 2013 to the end.”
Will Mr E get his 10 teams for 2014 then?
Well, so much for the Mercedes gets an unfair advantage theory. Also sad for Hulk, who would have looked at FI and Sauber last year and thought Sauber would be the team going under.
And I guess it really was a safety issue after all. Time to see some real changes, regardless of who might lose a sporting advantage.
I think this represents the inevitable result of unenlightened self interest, both from the teams and the FIA, and the end result is a loss of safety for the drivers. The more things change, the samer they get.
Pretty sure the “clarified” regs are 2 weeks notice to the FIA and other teams, after today they might be more than willing to approve some proper tire tests. Though I’m still pretty sure they would prefer Michelin.
“Well, so much for the Mercedes gets an unfair advantage theory.”
Had it not been for Hamilton’s tyre failure it would have been a 1 -2. That from a team that only 4 races ago immediately fell back into the mid-field as soon as the race started. Hopefully Rosberg gets the race win taken from him for ignoring the yellow flags and the teams that played by the rules move up a place.
1-2 Hamilton Vettel then, cause if you subtract Hamilton’s tires you might as well subtract Vettel’s gearbox as well, Rosberg admitted he would never have caught Vettel without the failure, so there you go. We don’t know if Hamilton would have run his tires off cause they exploded instead, plus a lot of safety car. Not exactly representative, LOL.
I’m also afraid Suaber won’t be there next year, and I’m afraid they might not be the only ones missing by the end of 2014. Too many changes are being introduced for next year, Formula 1 will be too expensive and I’m afraid maybe unstable, with an engine manufacturer dominating, and without any leadership from the FIA. Things don’t look good.
Poetic justice that Mercedes suffer a tyre problem when leading. Odd that a team that had tyre problems does a 1000K test and now don’t have wear problems. The IT ruling is now seen as a joke. Mercedes should have had their points removed and only driver points scored for the rest of the season.
Interesting that Merc have a termal sensor integrated on the front wing to monitor tyre temperatures 🙂
Rosberg escapes reprimand for speeding under yellow flags. No surprise there. Mercedes will probably get another 1000K test so Rosberg can practice driving during under yellow flag conditions
You really have a chip on your shoulder about Mercedes! Get over it.
Sounds like more of the same continuing rant over Mecedes – Hamilton -Hamiltons girlfriend at al. Get over it!!
The following two sentences from this article appear to logically conflict with each other:
“It seems strange that Red Bull is writing to Whiting; as we found out during the Tribunal, Whiting has no authority to authorise (or clarify) any testing. Further, the FIA has clarified that, should Pirelli and F1 teams follow the right processes, tyre tests like the one Mercedes did are actually allowed.”
We should NOT be surprised that RB are asking Mr. Whiting to delineate the conditions to make a tyre test legal. The FIA have twice said a tyre test would be legal; 1st prior to the May Barcelona tyre test when Whiting and one of the FIA lawyers confirmed the Pirelli contract enables this testing provided some conditions are met, and 2nd in the IT ruling itself.
RB may be late arriving to this party but they are asking the correct person for directions. It is not surprising for them to want to be here.