I think Ross is being a bit coy...
Lewis said that tyre swapping has been going on as long as he’s been in F1 which obviously leads me to suspect Merc & others did it in 2012 as well, therefore I find it hard to believe the lack of it is so much to blame for Merc’s Germany woes. Coincidentally it only seems to have become be the advertised secret to their success since the debacles at Silverstone & Germany. The poor results at the Nürburgring was obviously due to many factors but I suspect the unexpected emergency Kevlar tyres which most likely were completely different from what was run in the “secret” test had more to do with it than anything.
I also wonder HOW Mercedes was running their tyres in that test; were they swapping, were they under/over inflating, were they banging kerbs? If so, here was another opportunity for Pirelli to give them a heads up over potential consequences. If they ran their tyres exactly as specified by Pirelli and an advantage was gained as so many suspect, why did they continue the swapping, etc. at Silverstone? What was the construction of the test tyres, closer to what was run at Silverstone or closer to what was run in Germany?
Unfortunately, there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding that tyre test and how it may or may not have aided Mercedes recent success. If it all goes downhill from here for them because of the new rules and the 2012 spec tyre, I’ll continue credit Pirelli & the test for their recent (or possibly past) success.
I’ll also expect a new round of whinging from at least one of the Merc boys.
