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Geoffrey Harris16 Apr 2014
NEWS

MOTORSPORT: Thumbs down on Ricciardo appeal

FIA appeal court rejects Red Bull Racing's arguments to restore Daniel Ricciardo's second place in the Australian GP

Red Bull Racing’s appeal against its new Australian Formula One star Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix in which he finished second has been dismissed.

The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has made a brief statement in Paris saying its five-member court of appeal had rejected the appeal, but without giving the reasons.

It said the full decision would be published on its website by the end of the week – ahead of the Chinese GP in Shanghai, the fourth round of the F1 World Championship.

Ricciardo was the first Australian to finish on the podium of his home race since it became a world championship event in 1985, but five hours after that celebration in Melbourne a month ago he was excluded from the results.

FIA stewards determined that night that RBR had defied instructions from race director Charlie Whiting to adjust the fuel flow in Ricciardo’s RB10 car, which it said had “consistently” exceeded the “speed limit” of 100kg/hour in the race.

While a disappointed Ricciardo accepted that penalty in good grace, RBR has argued strongly for his reinstatement, repeatedly discrediting the FIA-mandated Gill fuel sensors in the new-era V6 turbo-hybrid F1 cars.

It has argued in public and at the FIA court of appeal hearing on Monday night, Australian time, that the sensors are faulty, inaccurate and unreliable – even that they frequently fail completely, and that its data showed the 100kg/hour had not been exceeded.

However, FIA president Jean Todt and Whiting have equally staunchly defended the Gill sensors as the only accepted measure of fuel flows in the new cars.

The rejection of the appeal denies Ricciardo the 18 points he initially collected in Melbourne and leave the 24-year-old West Australian, one of the sensations of the season, with only the 12 points he has from fourth place in the Bahrain GP on April 6 – and 10th place in the championship.

Mercedes, which has won all three races in the new era after four years of Red Bull-Renault domination, argued at the appeal hearing for a stronger penalty on RBR – the prospect of race bans if it again fell foul of the FIA on the fuel sensors.

The decision of the five-member “court”- comprising Harry Duijm of Holland as president, Rui Botica Santos of Portugal, Philippe Narmino of Monaco, Antonio Rigozzi of Switzerland and Jan Stovicek of the Czech Republic – was no surprise.

Its announcement could have been written before the appeal hearing – and may well have been.

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Written byGeoffrey Harris
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