Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has explained how a lack of time led to a tyre pressure offence and double fine at the Formula 1 Sao Paulo GP.
Both cars were reported to the stewards for having the pressures adjusted when the tyres were fitted on the grid, which is not allowed.
The offences happened during the hectic period between the aborted start and the delayed proper race start.
The team received a €5000 fine per car, with the stewards acknowledging the tight timing before the second attempt at a start.
In their decision the FIA stewards noted that “given the unusual circumstances surrounding the compressed timetable, aborted start, the grid access logistics and given the stipulation from the technical delegate that the tyre pressures were within the correct parameters, the stewards determine that a fine for a breach of procedure is appropriate in this case.
“Normally a breach of this nature, within a competitive session would carry a sporting penalty but it is not appropriate in this case.
“However, this decision should not be considered as a precedent for any similar breach in the future as the circumstances are considered unique.”
Shovlin confirmed that time was the key problem.
“The issue was when we got the message for the restart, that was straight into a 10-minutes to go,” said he said.
“The tyres must be fitted to the car at five minutes to go. 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.
“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.”
Shovlin confirmed that the sets of inters that Mercedes wanted to fit required a pressure adjustment.
“Then the added complication was that the set that we called for, which was not a set on the racks, but a set on wheelie boards so we could move them, had not been bled down to race pressures at that point,” he noted.
“The engineers will be calling for different tyre pressures. The tyre technicians are then running around trying to make sure all the sets are done. These sets were not done.
“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.”
Regarding the outcome he said: “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.”
