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# Video: The fallout from Mercedes’ controversial secret F1 test
- URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/video-the-fallout-from-mercedes-controversial-secret-f1-test/
- Published: 2023-08-21T14:02:04.000Z
- Updated: 2023-10-18T14:01:08.000Z
- Description: Secret testing, hidden identities, and rules rows – our video heads 10 years back in time to examine the row caused by Pirelli’s decision to organise an F1 test exclusively with Mercedes and the fallout from it
- Author: Jack Cozens
- Tags: Formula 1, #video, #image-center-center, #mercedes

A secret test is always a recipe for intrigue once details become public, but Pirelli’s activation of a little-known clause to conduct running with Mercedes during the 2013 season proved to be one of the biggest Formula 1 controversies of the 21st century so far.

Accusations of underhand tactics, three separate hearings, and a full trial followed as details of the initially unreported test – involving some of the biggest names in F1 at the time including Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, and Ross Brawn – became very public, sowing distrust among the championship’s top teams.

Our video examines the whole saga from start to finish – including the reasons why Pirelli first sought to test, the FIA trial and the verdict it delivered, plus the fallout from it, which also involved a sting in the tail for Mercedes inadvertently offered by its punishment.