• FIA International Tribunal

Tribunal 'a great step for the future of F1' - Brawn

ESPN Staff
June 21, 2013 « Horner coy on Mercedes penalty | Ferrari hits out at Tribunal verdict »
Ross Brawn was happy with the process at the International Tribunal © Getty Images
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Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn believes the FIA's new International Tribunal proved to be "a great step for the future of Formula One".

The tribunal was used for the first time on Thursday to decide whether Mercedes had breached regulations by using a 2013 car during its Pirelli tyre test. While the team was found to have been in breach of both the sporting regulations and the International Sporting Code, it was only hit with a reprimand and a ban for the Young Driver Test in July.

Brawn said the hearing had proven itself to be an independent process which will be good for the sport.

"This is a new process the FIA has set up and I must say the team had great confidence before and particularly after the tribunal," Brawn told Sky Sports News. "It's a genuinely independent tribunal and I think this is the first time it's sat. From what we can see it's a great step for the future of Formula One because there's been criticism in the past in that area, but my view is that what the FIA and the president of the FIA have done is a genuine step in the right direction. So having that opportunity of going to a genuinely independent tribunal to debate these things is a great step forward."

While Mercedes was punished, the fact that costs were split equally between Mercedes, Pirelli and the FIA indicates that there is some blame apportioned to each party and Brawn believes the procedure of getting clarification from the FIA needs refining.

"I think we all need to look at the process because clearly the process went wrong. Some of that was our responsibility and some of that was the responsibility of the FIA as it was set out in the findings of the tribunal. I think together Formula One and the FIA need to look at how we can improve that. I think the important thing that was established was that there was no malicious intent on the part of anyone and we need to find ways of stopping these things happening in the future."

Despite the punishments, Brawn did admit that Mercedes was pleased with the outcome of the tribunal.

"The important things for us are that it's confirmed that we acted in good faith, we've not attempted to get any advantage from the Pirelli test and that we believed - and had good reason to believe - that we had permission to do the test, so I think from that perspective we were happy. Obviously things have gone wrong and we've received the penalties and we understand that and accept it."

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