Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn doesn’t believe his team have got off lightly with a reprimand and a ban from the Young Driver Test.
Ferrari described the punishment as a “wrap on the knuckles”, but Brawn believes the punishment is proportional to the crime.
“It [the tribunal] confirmed we acted in good faith,” he told The F1 Show. “We never attempted to get any advantage from the Pirelli test and that we believed, and we had good reason to believe, that we had permission to do the test.
“Obviously things have gone wrong and we’ve received the penalties that [come with it], we understand that and we accept it.
“I wouldn’t say we have got off fairly lightly, we have got off with a reasonable penalty, I would say it’s proportional to the situation,” he added.
Reports before the tribunal suggested Brawn had put himself forward as the ‘sacrificial lamb’, but he insists resigning had never been discussed as an option.
“To be honest it’s never been discussed, so the situation hasn’t changed,” he said.
“You never know what might happen if the outcome of the tribunal had been different and I’m an employee and member of the team, so things can change.
“But the board have been very supportive in this matter. For them it was also very important that the issue of good faith was established and they’ve been very supportive and been aware of all the facts behind what has happened. I couldn’t have asked for more support from them.”
Discussion about this post