Tyre test row is Mercedes' fault, not Pirelli's: Red Bull chief

The row concerning the tyre test is exacerbating by the day. A letter, declaring that conducting the test without informing the rest of the teams is not acceptable, was leaked earlier this week. This painted Mercedes in an unflattering light as they were one of the teams to have conducted the test.

Pirelli had requested a 1000km tyre test with Mercedes in order to work on potential safety measures for its 2014 tyres from the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. Almost immediately, Red Bull and Ferrari raised the protest flags to point out that Mercedes was in breach of regulations having used a 2013 car for the test.

Now Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, said that it didn’t matter if Pirelli carries forward such a test. He also added that Mercedes has to take the blame for the tyre testing row and not Pirelli.

“Your contracts with your suppliers are irrelevant – in our opinion – to the commitment of a team,” Horner said. “When it enters the world championship it’s the team’s responsibility to comply with the regulations. Irrelevant of what the contracts say it’s the team that is there to comply. The issue isn’t so much with Pirelli, it’s more that a team has purposely tested a current car at a current circuit in our view in breach of the regulations.”

Horner’s main concern is that they will find a loophole in the issue and use it against the company, which in turn will lead to the return of expensive in-season testing amounting to a million pounds and maybe more.

“Obviously they have a contract with each of the teams that allows them to do 1000km of testing. The small problem is that the regulations don’t – in our opinion – allow you to do that. I think the danger with this is we’ll suddenly all go back, open up testing and that just introduces a lot more costs”, Horner added.