I have done a brief analysis regarding Daniel Ricciardo’s exclusion from the Australian GP, after finishing a brilliant second on his Red Bull debut, for richlandf1.com.
It’s basically how fine the regulations are surrounding the FIA’s standard fuel flow sensor and how the team failed to meet the requirements that the FIA set around monitoring the flow rate, rather than a breach of the flow rate itself.
Here’s the link – http://richlandf1.com/?p=20388
Full Tech Highlights will be up this week so stay tuned!
What I don’t get is why RBR thought they could get away with it. The rules seems really clear that unless the FIA tell you to ignore the sensor, you have to use the sensor. And they didn’t. Guilty as charged. One wonders if the team just said “of course we will appeal” because they were still in-country.
I think they probably thought they’d get away with it because it was the first race and that they reported problems to the FIA earlier in the weekend, but the rules are crystal clear. 18 valuable points down the drain early doors.