Originally from Auto Motor und Sport. Mercedes F1 tyre pressure trick revealed Possible explanation for brake temp issues?
The AMuS article says there is an easier way to solve this nonsense: Measure pressure on tyres at a given temperature before mounting them to the car. Someone didn't think far enough before releasing those rules, leaving this big and - to be honest - fairly obvious loophole. Maybe they should all get standard rims, too. I suspected something like this to have affected Rosbergs utter inability to get to pace in Monaco. There the safety car must have completely ruined his pressure. This of course only holds, assuming Hami was on a less radical starting setup. After the race MAMG was very cryptic about knowing the issue but no one really said anything meaningful.
This has been around for some time but it´s the first time I see pictures of it. It´s quite obvious that for FIA it´s legal or Mercedes wouldn´t use it outside the box allowing the photographer to take the pics.
To me this is just an example of F-1 being F-1. Mercedes are smarter than others... they figured out a way to do it, and it seems to be working... banning this is just way too much if you ask me... pretty soon the FIA will just make all the cars too.... as for it costing too much, so? its like back in the early 80's when the Cosworth teams came up with Water cooled brakes... but then dumped the water during the race - and were under weight. the rules said all up weight with fluids topped up... Gordon Murray was smarter than the rest... these kinds of things that get banned - kill innovation. even if its sneaky.
It may well be legal at the moment due purely to that fact that no rule/regulation covers it. Quite often you'll find that the FIA take no action on matters until they receive an official complaint or request for clarification on a matter, so all it takes is for someone to question it and action will be taken. As Pirelli have already voiced their concerns about teams deliberately circumventing their safety advice (safety being the critical word), it would take no effort at all for the FIA to introduce a new rule/regulation banning the external heating of axles and brakes in the interests of driver safety.
IMO, Mercedes should have been disciplined for using a device to fool the minimum tyre pressure recommendation from Pirelli. The FIA should be swift to crack down on teams using all these silly loopholes, mostly when they concerned safety issues.
So, you validate cheating? In most sports, cheating is frowned upon and leads to disqualification and ban.
I'm all for ''bending'' the rules to find extra performance but something irks me about this. What RBR did a few years back, finding a way to make the front wings bend (and to the extent it did!), even after the FIA changed the test just to catch RBR out, but they still found a way around it...brilliant IMO. What Mercedes is doing, is deliberately **** with the tire pressures. I know it makes their car faster, but the tire pressure is being set to level X because Pirelli can't guarantee it's safety below this point. We've all seen how these tires explode. I don't want to be the driver behind when a tire goes, and it hits me square in the face. That's lights out.
Well...technically, it's only cheating if you still employ something after it's been banned...up until that point, it's pretty much fair game as per "interpretation of regulations".
It's already a non-issue since FIA/Pirelli now monitor pressures continuously throughout the race since Monaco. At least they didn't have to ban anything.
It is innovation! Think Smokey Yunick driving his chevy back to the Best Damn Garage in Town in Daytona Beach after being excluded from the 500 while leaving the fuel tank in the scrutineering area!! John
Do people honestly think that when you employ so many clever people to work to a given set of rules that they won't innovate like this? The phony outrage is ridiculous. Good for Merc.
Fool--the tires were at the proper pressure. What is wrong is the spec (temperature) at which the pressure was measured.
where do the rules say you cant do this? tire pressures go up and down based on ambient and friction... brake temp etc...
Which is why it should be banned as it's just more cost to maintain a level playing field that can be maintained by spending no money...
I can only guess you're a lawyer of some sort (if not, maybe you should be). Pirelli sets a minimum pressure for safety reasons. FIA specs a test to ensure compliance. The test assumes certain temp conditions. Everybody knows that a pressure measurement is highly dependent on the temp under which that measurement is made. Any team (and I assume it's not just Mercedes) that "cleverly" changes the test conditions in order to pass the FIA test is deliberately running pressures below Pirelli's safety recommendation. This is more than just good ol' F1 rule-bending. And it's certainly not running "proper pressure".
In motor racing, you are supposed to do a better job than the opposition to win, not engage in rule bending to obtain an unfair advantage. Most loopholes end up being closed anyway if they are not deemed to serve the sport, so why engage in a so-called "clever" solution that will be banned anyway. Some of these "clever" solutions may not be banned yet, but are against the spirit of the rules.
Whose to say they haven't been doing it? Lotus, had something going on, and when Ferrari picked them for pieces, suddenly Ferrari improved as well.
