Did Mercedes Get Inside Knowledge About New Technical Directive Beforehand?

Mercedes created a bit of a row last week when they turned up with a new floor support bracket that was only made legal a few hours ago. A few team officials have questioned a few of the details surrounding the timing of certain events as quoted by Motorsport
 
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0:00 - Did Mercedes Know About Technical Directive Beforehand?
1:49 - Fast Feed

I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:

Did Mercedes Know About Technical Directive Beforehand?
 
It all began when Shaila-Ann Rao, a former special advisor to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff took a position within the FIA
 
She was appointed as the FIA’s interim Secretary General for Sport during the first week of June
 
Just two weeks later, the technical directive was released and despite the long journey to Canada, Mercedes were prepared with a new part that wasn’t allowed prior to the technical directive
 
Binotto questioned this
 
“Toto says they did it overnight. What I can say is that Ferrari would not be capable of doing it”
 
“No doubt I’m surprised that a team is so strong in doing that overnight. I can maybe only trust what he’s saying”
 
Binotto, however, is confident that Rao’s appointment by the FIA won’t create a conflict of interest despite his concerns
 
“That's a question that I've been asked as well in Baku in the press conference, and I can only repeat what I said at the time: It is a concern, no doubt”
 
“But I have as well the full trust in the FIA that they will prove that obviously she's a professional, she's a lawyer, and she's got integrity. I have confidence for the future that they will prove that my concern is not a concern”
 
When Marko was asked if he thought that Mercedes had prior knowledge of the technical directive, he replied by stating
 
“Otherwise you can’t explain what has happened”
 
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer, however, isn’t concerned with Rao’s appointment
 
“I'm not concerned. I think she's a lawyer. I think she takes an oath to be honest and trustworthy. So I think there's no issue”
 
 
Fast Feed
 
Mercedes driver George Russell thinks that he’s “obviously in a really privileged position being team mates with Lewis [Hamilton] and learning so much from him” [F1]
 
“How he works, how he goes about his business with his engineers, how he gets sort of the whole team motivated – it's quite inspiring to see”
 
“Also on the technical side, he's pretty impressive, which a lot of people probably won't recognise or appreciate”
 
His team principal Toto Wolff pointed out that they “have scored four to five podiums and [they] are seeing glimpses of performance” [BBC]
 
“But it is far away from our own expectations of ourselves. You need to see a podium as a good result on merit”
 
“I'm happy for Lewis because he was really disadvantaged in some of the races where the safety car went against him. But still a lot of work to do”
 
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly “personally, [doesn’t] think [the FIA] took a wrong turn [with the regulations]” [FIA]
 
“I think it’s just some of the side effects we are getting at the moment are probably slightly more extreme than we expected”
 
“I think it’s just fair to look at some options, look at all the solutions available to find the fairest treatment towards all the teams”
 
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel added that “the objective with the new regulations of the new cars was to make it better so the turn has been right”
 
“Ideally, we find a set of regulations where we’re not relying on any assistance to overtake but let’s not forget where we are coming from”
 
“There is a lot of downsides for us driving the cars when it comes to comfort, health long term. Therefore I think it’s good that the FIA is trying to have a look”
 
Helmut Marko joked that “Hamilton got out of the car quickly [in Canada]” [F1-Insider]
 
“When he's on the podium, it's a lot easier”
 
 
 Do you think Mercedes managed to make the new floor element overnight?

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