Red Bull rumoured to skip young drivers’ test – Formula 1 News
Test-gate saga seems to be far from over, as Red Bull is rumoured to miss the young drivers’ test in order to protest against FIA’s soft penalty on Mercedes.
Although there have been no confirmation of such news, The Times reported, “Red Bull are threatening to take the law into their own hands as a direct challenge
to the authority of the FIA, the governing body, and Jean Todt, its president whose standing is at rock bottom in the most important sport in his portfolio.”
The report further read, “Red Bull executives are considering boycotting the Young Drivers' Test to set up their own private session in a mirror of the Mercedes
case. A private test would breach the FIA rulebook but Red Bull are said to have told [F1 chief executive Bernie] Ecclestone that they would take the risk of a reprimand - the punishment meted out to Mercedes.”
It seems that things are really getting out of control, as most of the teams are unhappy with the FIA’s verdict on the test-gate scandal. The controversy started
when Mercedes did some private running with Pirelli in Barcelona.
Although such tests are allowed, the teams conducting them have to use an old car. This is where the German squad was guilty, as they went on with their current
challenger, which was against the rules.
Following the Mercedes-Pirelli running, top teams like Ferrari and Red Bull raced under protest and demanded some serious action to be taken against the guilty.
Finally, when the hearing was complete, the Brackely based team was reprimanded and was disallowed to appear in the young drivers’ test, which was a punishment
they offered to the sport’s governing body themselves.
Soon after the decision was made, Ferrari criticised FIA for being too lenient and claimed that some serious action should have been taken. The Italian team further
pointed out some other teams using banned components, but still getting away easily.
Now, Red Bull have echoed the words of Ferrari and have reportedly decided to take things in their own hands. If this happens, the situation will get worse, which
will eventually hurt the reputation of the sport.
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