Mercedes F1 on Monday "turned up the pressure on their Red Bull rivals as they accused the world champions of a 'flagrant breach' of the rules at a court hearing," according to Kevin Eason of the LONDON TIMES. Red Bull is "appealing against Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification from last month's Australian Grand Prix." Attorney Paul Harris, "representing Mercedes, tore into Red Bull's defence, accusing their rivals of knowingly and repeatedly ignoring instructions" from motorsports governing body FIA technical expert Fabrice Lom. Harris: "Red Bull thinks it is entitled to pick and choose between the measurements." The hearing is "delving into the highly technical debate over the implementation of regulations surrounding the sophisticated new power packs used for the first time this season" (LONDON TIMES, 4/14). The AP's John Leicester reported Red Bull "confirmed to the court that it initially turned down the fuel flow in Ricciardo's car during the race, because Lom asked the team to do so." But after that "affected Ricciardo's performance, slowing him by as much as 0.4 seconds per lap, Red Bull engineers decided to turn the rate of fuel to his engine back up again." Red Bull "did that because its engineers decided that the fuel flow sensor in Ricciardo's car was supplying faulty readings and that the team's own measurements were more reliable" (AP, 4/14).
