It added that Red Bull’s attempt to prove they did not exceed 100kg/hour was
insufficient and relied “on a software model”.
Ricciardo and the team will now have their work cut out to make up the
invaluable 18 points lost.
“It is just 18 more points that we have got to recoup,” said
Christian Horner, team principal.
“I think that it would have been handy to have them, but we haven’t. We
have got what we have got, and we have to close the gap – or at least
mitigate the damage while we are closing the gap with the power unit,”
he told *Autosport*.
“But more important than that, is it would have been good for Daniel
because he drove such a great race at his home grand prix.
“It was a great shame for him, not just the team, that it won’t go down
in the history books as a great second place for him.”
Meanwhile, Ferrari’s new team principal has admitted he thought the initial
approach to take up the job was an April Fool’s joke two weeks late.
“I live in New York and I received a call at 5.58 on Friday morning,”
said Marco Mattiacci.
“The chairman, [Luca] di Montezemolo, was on the phone and he told me,
‘this is my idea’.
“I told him that April Fool’s [day] had been about 15 days earlier. But
then, after the second or third minute of discussions, I understood that it
was serious.”