“I think it’s not great for the fans,” said Horner. “An Australian driver
finishes on the podium for his home race, he collects the trophy, the fans
all leave the circuit that the home boy has done well, and then five and a
half hours later the result changes and that’s confusing.”
Charlie Whiting, race director, said later that he felt the decision could not
have been made “an awful lot quicker”.
Horner continued: “There’s then a perception that Red Bull have been arrogant
with the FIA because they haven’t complied with the directives – which have
no regulatory value – so of course, it’s damaging in many respects.
“It’s going to take four of five races before we get a clear picture [of the
racing], and hopefully not four or five appeals.”
Red Bull blamed the issue in Melbourne on faulty readings from the
FIA-approved sensors, and immediately launched an appeal against Daniel
Ricciardo’s expulsion. Horner estimated that to comply with the steward’s
directive would have cost the Australian in the region of three quarters of
a second per lap.
Red Bull argued the sensors are “not good enough” for Formula One, but the FIA
said it was the best technology available.
The 40-year-old’s preferred option is to scrap the regulation, which
stipulates a car cannot exceed a fuel flow limit of 100kg/hour. The
stewards, meanwhile, said it would be “very dangerous” to abandon the
ruling, and could cause accidents on the straights, as the escalation of
claim and counter-claim continued.
As soon as rule change is mooted, the politics on which Formula One often
thrives come to the fore, with accusations of furthering agendas flying
around the paddock.
Horner himself has said other teams are buying “boxes” of the sensors in order
to find one which best suits their performance. However, Whiting said he had
“no problem” with this practice, and that similar things have always
happened in the sport.
Specifically on what Friday’s sensor failure means for the race, Horner said:
“I think we will have that conversation with Charlie [Whiting] beforehand.
“It will be clear if we do see a variance, what are we going to do? Hopefully
we can agree something that is sensible.
He said he hoped the sensor “behaves” for the remainder of the weekend. And if
it does not?
“We find ourselves in an awkward situation but it is one where we will try to
work with the FIA, But again you are faced with the same dilemma as
Australia a couple of weeks ago.”
Elsewhere on Friday, the sport’s supremo Bernie Ecclestone – fresh from a
multi-million pound legal bill for a damages case in the High Court which he
won – arrived in Sepang, declaring the much-criticised engine noise not as
bad as he had feared.
Ecclestone has been one of the new hybrid engines’ most vocal critics, but he
seemed pleasantly surprised as he walked through the paddock during Friday
practice, although he was still able to hold a conversation.
“It’s a little louder than we thought, so if we can just get it (the noise) up
a little bit more then it would be all right,” said the 83-year-old.
“It sounds terrible on TV, but the problem isn’t that, it’s about the people
coming here and the whole atmosphere of Formula One.
“People said you couldn’t hear anything, but it’s not true. It just needs to
be a bit louder than we have now.”
As far as the action on track went, it was remarkably close through the two
free practice sessions, but Mercedes remained on top. Lewis Hamilton and
Nico Rosberg topped the respective sessions, while Ferrari showed signs of a
resurgence after a mediocre race in Melbourne.
Kimi Raikkonen, not one to speak glowingly about his chances, said: “This was
definitely a positive day. I had a better feeling compared to Friday in
Melbourne.”
Sebastian Vettel was also buoyed by his practice pace, but it was another
gloomy day for Lotus.
In the searing heat, Jenson Button said McLaren’s best chance of a strong
performance, and keeping a hold of their lead in the constructors’
championship, was in cooler temperatures. Judging by the forecasts, rain is
far more likely on Sunday.