Red Bull have lost their appeal against Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from last month’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo crossed the line in second place in front of his home fans in Melbourne, and on his debut for Red Bull, only for race stewards to disqualify him due to a fuel irregularity.
Red Bell took their appeal to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal in Paris, who heard the case on Monday, before revealing their verdict on Tuesday morning.
“The Court, after having heard the parties and examined their submissions, decided to uphold the decision number 56 of the stewards by which they decided to exclude Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s car number three from the results of the 2014 Australian Grand Prix,” a statement on the FIA’s website read.
The decision means that Red Bell and Ricciardo will not recover the 18 points he lost in Melbourne, leaving the driver in 10th place in the overall standings.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had been confident of over-turning the decision, declaring beforehand that his team had “a very strong case”.
Ricciardo’s car had been found to have consistently exceeded the maximum allowed fuel flow rate of 100 kilograms per hour, but Red Bull cited persistent issues with the sensors over the course of the weekend that forced them to take their own readings.
The FIA claimed that no other instrument, other than the permitted sensor, was allowed to measure the fuel flow, with Red Bull warned both after qualifying and five laps into the race with regard to the matter.
Red Bull also argued that the technical directive issued over the course of the weekend with regard to the fuel flow was not regulatory and therefore they should not be punished for disregarding it.
The team’s chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, and chief engineer of car engineering, Paul Monaghan, were questioned at the hearing while Mercedes, McLaren, Lotus, Williams and Force India all had representatives present.
Mercedes, who have won all three races so far, have called for a further sanction, to be suspended until the end of the season, to dissuade Red Bull from doing the same thing again.
The FIA has said a full explanation of the decision would be made available on its website by the end of the week.
Technical director Bell to leave Mercedes
Technical director Bob Bell is to leave Mercedes at the end of the Formula One season and will not be replaced.
Mercedes announced Bell’s departure in a statement on Monday, detailing plans to hand over Bell’s duties to technical executive director Paddy Lowe.
Mercedes said: “Bob resigned his position in December 2013 and will leave the team at the end of November 2014, with the intention of pursuing new challenges outside the company.
“He has held the position of technical director since April 2011.
“Moving forward, the team will streamline its technical organisation and executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe will assume the responsibilities previously held by Bob.
“The role of technical director will not be replaced.”
Northern Irishman Bell, 56, first moved into motor racing when joining McLaren in 1982, and had subsequent spells at Benetton, Jordan and Renault before switching to Mercedes.
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