- Red Bull disqualification
Horner 'extremely confident' of winning appeal
Christian Horner has revealed the reasons why he is "extremely confident" that Red Bull did not break the fuel-flow regulations at the Australian Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo finished second in Melbourne before being disqualified after the race when stewards ruled that his RB10 had repeatedly exceeded the FIA's 100kg/h limit. Red Bull announced straight after the race that an appeal would be lodged.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Horner said: "We are appealing on the grounds that we do not believe, we are extremely confident, that we have not broken the rules, that we haven't exceeded the 100kg/h of fuel that is permitted to be utilised by the car and the engine. So that was the reason for our appeal, we feel we have a strong case and it will be down to the appeal court to ultimately decide."
Horner and Red Bull do not dispute using another fuel-flow sensor, but are both adamant their equipment should be fine to use due to existing concerns with the FIA's equipment.
"Our whole case is on the fact of which reading is correct. We have a sensor that is drifting and isn't reading correctly versus a fuel rail that we know is calibrated and we know that hasn't varied throughout the weekend and has subsequently been checked and found to be not faulty and hasn't moved or varied at all since it was installed on the car prior to the weekend.
"Our argument is very simple - that we haven't broken the Technical Regulations. That we haven't exceeded the fuel flow limit and that the sensor, which hopefully we will be able to demonstrate in the appeal, is erroneous. I think the problem with the Technical Directive is that as we have seen in the Pirelli tyre case or the double diffuser days, that the directive, as it now states on the bottom of the directive, is the opinion of the Technical Delegate - it is not a regulation, it is not regulatory, it is purely an opinion."
The appeal will take place on April 14, the Monday before the Chinese Grand Prix - the fourth race on the 2014 calendar.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
