Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn insists team have a ‘blemish-free’ record after escaping without any serious sanction in the controversial tyre test.
Mercedes and Pirelli held the three-day test in Barcelona ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix and were reprimanded by an FIA international tribunal on Thursday.
The tribunal, which is understood to have taken six hours to come to a decision in Paris, banned the Brackley-based team from competing in the young driver test session at Silverstone on July 17-19.
The team decided to accept the decision and not to appeal, knowing that if they failed they could face further, more severe, action.
Brawn believes they had a lucky escape with the decision and admits it was a fear that they could have been excluded from this year’s Championship.
Brawn said: “These events are the ones that pull the team together. These sort of events, as well as racing, consolidate a team, we’ve been very solid.
“It’s very important for Mercedes. We have a blemish-free record here and it was very important to Mercedes that the facts of this case were understood.
“It does sometimes strengthen your resolve rather than weaken it but now it’s cleared away we can concentrate on the rest of the year.”
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