Red Bull isolated as rivals back FIA

Deadline to appeal against disqualification approaches.

Thursday is the deadline to lodge an appeal against the disqualification of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in the Australian Grand Prix. The team appears isolated in its protests as rivals Mercedes and Ferrari have given full support to FIA for its decision, according to ESPN.

Red Bull claims the equipment’s unreliability has caused the issue with fuel management but their position seems weak. Under the FIA rules, teams cannot replace approved equipment with their own, which Red Bull did.

“We need to rely on the fact that it is a situation that is well managed by the FIA,” said Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali. “We have the FIA that will do their job and I am sure there will not be a problem at all.” FIA’s ruling was also supported by Mercedes’ Toto Wolff. “The FIA is obviously controlling fuel flow and checking with all the teams, and it is a question of learning by doing it between the FIA and the teams,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2014.

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