Mercedes pushing for further Red Bull punishment
Mercedes were among several teams in attendance at the International Court of Appeal (ICA) hearing in Paris on Monday to hear Red Bull’s appeal against Daniel Ricciardo’s exclusion from second place at the Australian Grand Prix. The ICA plans to deliver its verdict by Tuesday morning at the latest after hearing evidence from both the FIA and Red Bull. Mercedes meanwhile took the opportunity to have its say during the hearing, as it’s fully obliged to do under the ICA rules. Representing the current championship leading team was lawyer Paul Harris, who called upon the ICA to punish Red Bull further than the race stewards already have, to ensure the team avoids “knowingly breaking the rules” in future. “There is a real risk that they will do it again,” he said. “The most effective way of ensuring that Red Bull do not flout further written and oral instructions from the FIA for at least the remainder of this season is for this court to recognise the severity of their infringement and to impose a further sanction upon them.” Evidence presented by Red Bull showed they initially adhered to the FIA’s advice and turned down Ricciardo’s fuel flow meter between laps 12 and 17. However upon realising they were losing ‘around’ four-tenths per lap, they decided to revert back to the original settings. Whilst the Milton Keynes team continues to insist the faulty sensor was giving an inaccurate reading therefore forcing them to use their own, non-FIA approved measurement, Harris suggested this system wasn’t accurate either. He said the Gill supplied FIA sensors are “rigorously tested and rigorously calibrated,” whilst the system Red Bull chose to use is “not 100 percent accurate. “Red Bull thinks it is entitled to pick and choose between the measurements whenever it suits Red Bull,” he added. “If FIA allows Red Bull not to follow fuel-flow instructions, then what is to stop a team ignoring the FIA when it comes to other measurement systems, for instance the weight of the car?” The ICA’s verdict is due on Tuesday morning and could either see Red Bull’s Ricciardo reinstated, the FIA’s verdict upheld, or further punishment for the team.
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