Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner remains adamant his team can win the appeal over Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from second place at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Milton Keynes-based team believes it has all the evidence to convince the FIA that it did not contravene the sport’s 100kg/h fuel flow rate rule at the appeal hearing on April 14 in Paris.
Horner also stands by his view that the team did not violate an FIA technical directive by using their own equipment to measure fuel flow rate, as the document is not of regulatory value.
In view of the aforementioned Horner believes if they can prove the fuel flow rate on the Australian’s car did not exceed 100kg/h there are no grounds for Ricciardo to be disqualified from second place.
The team refused to turn down the fuel flow rate on Ricciardo’s car after being instructed by the FIA to do so during the Australian Grand Prix.
“Technical directives are not of regulatory value,” he told Autosport.
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“They are the opinion of the technical delegate – as was made clear in the Pirelli case [the Mercedes secret test], which clearly stated that opinions of Charlie (Whiting) are not regulatory.
“It (them being opinions) is even stated on the bottom of the directives now, that these do not have a regulatory value.
“Our position is as it was in the race: that we believe, and we believe we will be able to demonstrate in the court of appeal, that we fully complied with the technical regulations – 5.1.4 – to be explicitly clear.”
Meanwhile, the team still harbors concerns over the reliability of the fuel flow sensors ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
It is believed the team will discuss the issue before Sunday’s race at Sepang in a bid to avoid a repeat of the incident.
Horner believes it will not be a matter just discussed by Red Bull alone.
“Hopefully we will have a sensor that works,” Horner said.
“I am sure we will have a conversation about it.
“But it is not a position that will be unique to Red Bull I don’t think.
“It is potentially more prevalent with the Renault users, because of where we are at with the engines. We will see.”
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