Horner fears disqualification
A fortnight ago Daniel Ricciardo was excluded from the classification of the Australian Grand Prix after finishing runner-up on his debut for the team in front of his home crowd.
Motor sport’s world governing body the FIA claims Ricciardo’s car “consistently exceeded” the maximum allowed fuel flow of 100 kilograms per hour as part of the sport’s new regulations for this season in its bid to be greener. Horner argues the technology is “immature”, and launched an appeal which will be heard at the FIA’s Paris headquarters on April 14.
Red Bull suffered another failure of the fuel-flow sensor in practice for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The sensor has been manufactured by a UK company and the FIA claims it has been rigorously tested.
Although the sensor was replaced, Horner was unable to ratify his team’s position should there be a repeat this weekend of what unfolded at Albert Park.
“We had a signal failure on Daniel’s car on Friday morning, immediately,” said Horner. “We replaced that for the afternoon session, and hopefully it reads as per the fuel rail (a device that delivers fuel to the injectors in an engine), and will behave for the rest of the weekend.”
Asked what the plan would be if it did not work, Horner added: “If it doesn’t then we will find ourselves in an awkward situation.
“We will try to work with the FIA, but then you are faced with the same dilemma as occurred in Australia a couple of weeks ago.”
In practice, Australian GP winner Nico Rosberg emerged quickest, but with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and reigning four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel breathing down his neck.
The early championship pace-setter posted a lap time in his Mercedes of one minute 39.909 seconds, with Raikkonen 0.035secs adrift and Vettel 0.061secs down. Lewis Hamilton was fastest in first practice for Mercedes but was fourth at the end of FP2, 0.142secs behind Rosberg.
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