Mercedes-Benz drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg enjoyed a dominant showing in yesterday’s Maylasian F1 Grand Prix while Aussie Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo failed to finish after a cistly pit-stop glitch.
Running a strong fourth with laps to go, Ricciardo pitted for what should have been a regular tyre stop but his Red Bull engineers failed to secure the left-front wheel correctly and in the scramble to re-attach it damaged the front wing while manhandling the jack.
Ricciardo returned to the circuit but the dmaged front wing failed and cut his right-front tyre. Ricciardo was also slugged with a 10-second penalty for the first pit-stop shambles and eventually parked for good with four laps to go.
Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished third ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
With the exception of the struggling Lotus squad, the F1 teams seem to be getting on top of the new 2014 technical regulations and their V6 turbo-hybrid powertrains.
Unfortunately the same can’t be said of the sport’s administrators with more problems in Malaysia with the fuel metering units – the same unit which led to Ricciardo being disqualified from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
No doubt this ongoing fracas will be part of the Red Bull team’s case when Ricciardo’s disqualification appeal is heard next month in Paris.
