The FIA Court of Appeal has rejected Red Bull Racing’s appeal against the expulsion of Daniel Ricciardo from last month’s Australian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo, who finished second in the season opener – collecting his first podium finish on his Red Bull debut – was disqualified post-race after stewards found the Australian’s car to have “consistently” exceeded the maximum fuel flow of 100kg/h throughout the grand prix.
Red Bull appealed the decision, insisting that the fuel flow measured by their internal system – used by the team due to a lack of confidence in the FIA mandated sensor, which had failed twice that weekend on Ricciardo’s car – was not in breach of the 100kg/h limit imposed by the new for 2014 fuel regulations.
Following a six-hour hearing on Monday, the FIA Court of Appeal, made up of a five-man panel, announced on Tuesday that the decision of the FIA delegates present at the Australian Grand Prix to exclude Daniel Ricciardo would be upheld.
“The court, after having heard the parties and examined their submissions, decided to uphold the decision #56 of the stewards by which they decided to exclude Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s car #3 from the results of the 2014 Australian Grand Prix,” read a statement released by the FIA.
Red Bull responded to the verdict, stating that it “accepts” the decision of the Court of Appeal.
“Infiniti Red Bull Racing accepts the ruling of the International Court of Appeal today,” read a short statement released by the team on Tuesday morning.
“We are of course disappointed by the outcome and would not have appealed if we didn’t think we had a very strong case.
“We always believed we adhered to the technical regulations throughout the 2014 Australian Grand Prix.
“We are sorry for Daniel (Ricciardo) that he will not be awarded the 18 points from the event, which we think he deserved.
“We will continue to work very hard to amass as many points as possible for the team, Daniel and Sebastian (Vettel) throughout the season.
“We will now move on from this and concentrate on this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.”
Despite the calls of Mercedes for a suspended punishment, Red Bull will face no further penalties aside from Ricciardo’s upheld expulsion.
The full decision of the FIA Court of Appeal is expected to come “later this week”.
Image courtesy of Red Bull Media/Getty Images
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