Mercedes try to get Red Bull a three- race ban
Mercedes tried to have Red Bull banned from the Monaco Grand Prix, then pretended they didn’t. Sportsmail understands that Mercedes provided a 95-page submission to the FIA court of appeal hearing earlier in the week, in which they called for the world champions to be suspended for three races — ef f ectively t his weekend’s chinese Grand Prix as well as the Spanish and Monaco races.
That would have meant Red Bull missing one of the most important races commercially, the first European race of the year and the j ewel i n the Formula one calendar.
Despite clearly setting out their case in writing, Mercedes twice explicitly told Sportsmail they had not called for such a ban during Red Bull’s appeal hearing against Daniel Ricciardo’s di s qualification from the Australian Grand Prix for racing with an illegal fuel flow.
Mercedes made those claims despite the fact they hired Paul Harris Qc, who openly accused Red Bull of a ‘ flagrant and deliberate disregard’ for the rules.
The court upheld Ricciardo’s disqualification from his home race but did not impose any greater punishment.
Red Bull argued the FIA sensor was faulty and that the fuel flow was permissible, based on the evidence of their own, supposedly more reliable, fuel rail.
Mercedes, however, drew parallels with the incident at Jenson Button’s BAR Honda team in 2005. BAR were banned for three races — i ncluding Monaco — for having fitted an illegal fuel tank.
Mercedes are the team that evolved from Honda and several staff who still work at the Brackley factory remain aggrieved at their t r eatment nine years ago. Another factor in Mercedes’ hardline approach could be that Red Bull protested against their illegal extra tyre test last year.
Whatever the motivation, they were the only team to speak out against Red Bull in the Paris hearing, although Mercedes refused to comment about their role last night.
Within Mercedes, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were due to meet last night for a friendly chat about their own rivalry.
The topic under discussion between the championship leaders was their duel in Bahrain a fortnight ago. it was captivating viewing for the neutral and, for the most part at least, a clean fight. But Rosberg was annoyed early on in the race by Hamilton’s aggressive streak.
‘What he did wasn’t on,’ the German protested over the team radio as they jostled for the lead. Hamilton went on to win, drawing within 11 points of his team-mate.
Yesterday, in a Mercedes hospitality area shrouded in smog in a vast and soulless Shanghai paddock, Rosberg said: ‘ We have discussed it a little bit but tonight we will discuss the whole race and the weekend.
‘The rate at which he was pushing me out was too fast and it meant i could struggle to avoid the accident, which is why i got on the radio.’
The two Mercedes men have been racing against each other since they were boy karters and Rosberg believes their experiences together will help them in this situation.
‘it’s not the first time that it’s been a little bit close,’ he said. ‘We have had so many of these going back to when we were 13 years old or even 12.
‘The discussions can be intense, but we always move on afterwards with respect. That’s how it has always worked and i think it will work in the future.’