Many on social media were quick to tout the FIA’s investigation into the imperious Lewis Hamilton’s illegal tyre pressures as a smear campaign, following the conclusion of the Italian Grand Prix.
It was discovered by the officiators that the Briton’s left-rear tyre was operating at 0.3psi below the stipulated minimum of 19.5psi, which was enforced by supplier Pirelli prior to the race weekend.
Mercedes AMG’s case initially wasn’t helped entirely by the discreetness being exerted by Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington, who told his driver that he’ll “explain later” the reason for the request to increase his pace towards the end of the race. Hinting at some form of guilt.
The stewards concluded, however, that:
“In making this determination regarding the pressures, the stewards noted that the tyre warming blankets had been disconnected from their power source, as is normal procedure, and the tyres were significantly below the maximum permitted tyre blanket temperature at the time of the FIA’s measurement on the grid, and at significantly different temperatures from other cars measured on the grid.
“Further, the stewards are satisfied that the team followed the currently specified procedure, supervised by the tyre manufacturer, for the safe operation of the tyres. Therefore the stewards decide to take no further action.”
What this conclusion advocates then, is this was simply an error on behalf of the FIA.
Indeed it also leaves the Brackley team in a fortunate position to not have any sanction imposed on them, as wasn’t the case for GP2 Series drivers Mitch Evans and Sergio Canamasas who were excluded from Saturday qualifying after it was found they ran low tyre pressures.
Is it satisfactory though, that the sport’s governing body has been negligent in this regard, with no clarification as to precisely when the tyre pressures would be recorded?
Given that safety is extremely paramount, as exacerbated by Sebastian Vettel following his high-speed blow-out at the Belgian Grand Prix, it’s time that the FIA put that hammer down on the topic of tyres.
With due consideration to Formula One’s tyre tender being up for grabs in 2017, it’s nigh that Pirelli be taken seriously by the sport’s stakeholders if they are to continue as the sole tyre manufacturers.
Paul Hembery, the boss of the Italian marque, was explicitly vocal in for one stating that testing is a condition on which upon they’d renew their contract.
“We cannot continue in a scenario where we can’t do our work. Without a testing programme we won’t be able to stay in the sport,” he said.
“If we are to stay in F1, we need to have a much better working relationship and collaboration between all parties in the sport.
“We can’t go through to 2017 with a dramatic change in tyre widths, for example, with the current regulations saying we can’t test in any F1 car whatsoever.”
A condition that seems futile at the moment, as the governing body and commercial rights holder opted to discard one of the three traditional pre-season tests, with further ambitions to reduce in-season testing in the good name of cost cutting.
So the ball is in the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone’s court. Do they continue to neglect Pirelli’s cries for safer and faster tyres? Because faster and more durable tyres will allow for the cars to go faster and create a better show.
Or do they continue to allow the Italian brand’s reputation to be smeared in fascicles such as what transpired at Monza.
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