Mercedes give their reasoning: This is why they were penalised in Brazil
F1 News
Mercedes has explained what really happened during the red flag period at the Brazilian Grand Prix, which resulted in a fine. The Mercedes team changed the tyre pressures when the tyres were attached to the cars and was fined €10,000. Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director at Mercedes, has explained what went wrong.
What caused Mercedes' tyre pressure problem?
All teams on the F1 grid were given a ten-minute notice about the restart. According to the rules, tyres have to be fitted to the car five minutes before the start. "That meant that we only had a few minutes to get the tyres down to the car, get them on the car, and get them checked by the FIA. That did not fit," Andrew Shovlin said in Mercedes' debrief. But why were Mercedes advantaged compared to other teams?
"In Brazil, it is an unusual pit lane layout. The garages are up high. You have got to go down either right round the pit entry road or there is a gate much further up. But with the position of our garage, we had to get the tyre set quite a long way to make it to the car," he added.
Shovlin then explained that Mercedes almost missed the time limit set by the FIA. "Once we got them down to the car, we were up against that five-minute limit, which is a serious penalty if you do not make that. We had to then get them on the car. We then started to bleed them, but ran out of time. But the penalty was actually because we did not have time for the FIA checks to be done. They were happy that the tyres were at the right pressure. It was simply that the scrutineer was not there supervising the bleed before they went on the car. That was why we were then called to the stewards," he continued.
What penalty did Mercedes receive?
Mercedes was eventually fined by the FIA. "The penalty was a $5,000 fine per car. So, $10,000 in total. But as they accepted there was no sporting gain from it and that we were complying with all the regulations around tyre pressures. That was only given for a procedural issue with a mitigating factor that there was not the time available to get them down there and get the checks done before they had to be fitted," Shovlin revealed.
This article has been created in collaboration with Jeroen Immink
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