- Red Bull disqualification
Appeal case stronger since Melbourne - Horner
Red Bull believes its appeal against Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification at the Australian Grand Prix has strengthened over the last two race weekends.
The case will be heard at the FIA's International Court of Appeal on Monday, with Red Bull aiming to have Daniel Ricciardo's second-place finish reinstated. He was disqualified from the results for exceeding the maximum fuel flow rate according to the FIA's sensor, but Red Bull argues the sensor was providing inaccurate readings.
No other team has fallen foul of the same regulation this year, but Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes problems with the sensors have only served to strengthen his team's case.
"Those points are vital, every point is vital," he said. "I think we've got a very strong case. As more races have progressed, issue have become more evident and issues and understanding has come to light. Hopefully we can present our case fairly and get the second place back that Daniel deserves from Melbourne."
Meanwhile, Horner said Red Bull is not giving up on catching Mercedes despite the clear gap between the two cars at the first three races.
"We're just going to keep working on it, no-one is giving up. We know where we need to improve and we are just going to keep pushing. The Renault guys are working hard on it in Paris and everybody in Milton Keynes if fully fired up. If you think where we were five weeks ago at the [pre-season] test in Bahrain we would never have made a race distance, let alone a competitive race. In China Mercedes are going to be very difficult to compete against with the km-long straight, but once we get back to Europe we need to start making in-roads into them.
"It's no secret that we are significantly down on straight-line performance to Mercedes. The Renault guys know that and are working hard on it and anything we do to close that gap will only get us closer to them. Considering where we are with our disadvantage with straight-line speed, to achieve what we have been achieving is seriously impressive."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
