Immediately
after an exciting finish wherein local lad Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull
Racing-Renault finished second in the Australian GP held on March 16, 2014, it
was announced that he be penalised. Thus Ricciardo lost his second-place in the
race after stewards decided his car had run with too high a fuel flow rate
during the race. The decision of the stewards will be opposed by the team Red
Bull Racing-Renault and the latter has appealed against this decision.
With
Ricciardo out, rookie man Kevin Magnussen of Denmark of McLaren-Mercedes has
been relegated to position two.
According to news F1 news, under article 5.1.4 of the new 2014 technical
regulations, cars are limited to a fuel flow rate of 100kg/hour, as measured by
an FIA-homologated sensor on the car.
It
is reported that Red Bull team was warned by the FIA’s technical representative
during the race that the fuel flow on Ricciardo’s car was too high. The warning
was not taken seriously by the team. Red Bull said in a statement, “Inconsistencies
with the FIA fuel flow meter have been prevalent all weekend up and down the
pit lane. The Team and Renault are confident the fuel supplied to the engine is
in full compliance with the regulations.”
With
Ricciardo out, that meant that Red Bull scored a duck in its opening race of
F1. His teammate Sebastian Vettel had retired early in the race. Lewis Hamilton
of Mercedes AMG Petronas also retired during the season’s first Formula One
race in Australia. Rookie driver from
Denmark Kevin Magnussen of McLaren-Mercedes got a podium finish as he came in third
place but after the decision on Ricciardo was pushed to second place. It is the
first ever podium finish for a Danish player! For Kevin Magnussen it was a
podium finish on his F1 debut.
First
to come in the race was Nico Rosberg of Mercedes AMG Petronas. This also meant
that Jenson Button of McLaren-Mercedes gets a podium with a third position. He
was followed by Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. Good news for Indian fans as Nico
Hulkenberg of Force India-Mercedes came in seventh (now sixth after the latest
development) and grabbed eight points for this team. His teammate Sergio Perez thus
came in came in 10th and gets one point.
Picture of Daniel Ricciardo, courtesy Red
Bull