Formula 1 team Mercedes were Friday reprimanded and suspended from participating in this year's young driver test after FIA's International Tribunal said the private tyre test conducted by the team with Pirelli in Barcelona last month constituted a breach of the sports rules.
Both Mercedes and Pirelli have been reprimanded and they will each share the costs of the case equally with the FIA, according to Formula 1's official website.
The test was protested by rivals Red Bull and Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix after it was revealed that the three-day, 1000 km practice had been run using Mercedes' 2013 car, in contravention of the regulations which prohibit the use of current cars for such tests.
Although Mercedes had broken Article 22 of the F1 sporting regulations, the tribunal said that there was no intention by the team to obtain any unfair advantage and that both Mercedes and Pirelli had acted in good faith at all times.
The tribunal also determined that Mercedes did gain some material advantage from the test and that Pirelli were aware of this and that they had intended to pass some confidential data to Mercedes, even if that data was of limited use to the team since they were unaware of the tyre specifications being tested.
