Thursday 20 March 2014

Teams alerted to potential fuel sensor issue in January

(McLaren Mercedes)

McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier has confirmed that teams were made aware in January that they may have to manage an issue with the new fuel flow sensor.

Boullier said 'It's clear that it was raised early enough that there was a little bit of an accuracy issue between to different sensors, but we have been working closely with the FIA since early January to make sure that we understand the needs and understand if we could improve the system'.

Boullier's comments following Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification from last weekend's Australia Grand Prix where he finished in second place after the FIA found that Red Bull Racing had 'consistently exceeded the 100KG/H fuel limit' 

The reigning world champions used their own fuel sensor system having stated that the FIA's system was 'unreliable'

Despite this however Boullier stated that his his team along with 'Most of the other teams' were fully compliant throughout the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

Red Bull have until today to appeal the decision to disqualify Daniel Ricciardo from the race. While the Milton Keynes based outfit failed to score a point in Australia following Ricciardo's disqualification and Sebastian Vettel's retirement from the race in contrast McLaren had a great race as their new rookie driver Kevin Magnussen finished the race in third with Jenson Button in fourth however following the disqualification the McLaren pair were promoted to second and third behind race winner Nico Rosberg making it an all Mercedes powered top three.

McLaren head to the second race of the season in Malaysia next weekend (which will be a subdued affair following the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines plane) leading the Constructors championship with 33 points.

©Ben Johnston 2014

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