F1: Red Bull Denies Dropping Ricciardo Appeal

Red Bull has denied rumours it is preparing to drop its appeal against Daniel Ricciardo's Melbourne disqualification.

The story goes that FIA president Jean Todt, angry with world champion Sebastian Vettel's crass dismissal of the new turbo V6 engine rules as "shit", was offering to drop a disrepute charge if Red Bull agrees to drop the appeal.

"Utter nonsense," Dr Helmut Marko is quoted by Germany's Sky.

"I have no idea where that came from. We are preparing for the appeal hearing," he insisted.

Team boss Christian Horner on Monday denied that the FIA had even contacted Red Bull about Vettel's swearing.

But when asked about the incident, Todt said: "It is something we will deal with internally.

"Unfortunately we have a tendancy to forget the beauty of motor racing and formula one and concentrate on behaviours that are not my priority," he is quoted by French television BFMTV.

Even with the appeal hearing looming, arguably Red Bull's bigger priority is the performance of its Renault-powered RB10, and the deficit to dominant Mercedes.

Horner is expecting a tough weekend in Bahrain.

"Their (Mercedes') advantage will be bigger than it was (in Malaysia) because it's quite a power dominated circuit," he said.

Mercedes, however, is not resting on its laurels.

"We saw one of our competitors here (in Malaysia) receiving 50 boxes of new parts on morning and evening flights," Toto Wolff told Austrian television ORF.

"We need to do the same."

(GMM)

Drivers say Massa wrong to ignore team order

Two former F1 drivers on Tuesday said they thought Felipe Massa was wrong to have ignored Williams' team orders in Malaysia.

Although Brazilian Massa has only just left Ferrari, where in 2010 he was ordered to give up a win to Fernando Alonso, Karl Wendlinger said he should have let Valtteri Bottas past at Sepang.

"As a team boss I would not be pleased with him," former Sauber driver Wendlinger told Austrian television Servus TV.

"The reason was not just that they wanted Bottas ahead of Massa," he added, explaining that Williams simply thought Bottas' fresher tyres gave him a better chance of passing Jenson Button's McLaren.

"That would have given them more points, which can be extremely important at the end of the season," said Wendlinger.

Likewise, German racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck admitted he was "surprised" by Massa's obstinacy.

"In my long career, I have been on both sides -- benefitting from team orders, or being the one who has to go behind the other. But I always followed," he said.

Asked how he would feel if he was Williams' team boss, Stuck admitted: "I would not be happy. He is an employee of the team and, quite simply, he needs to follow instructions."

(GMM)

Alonso happy to be beating Raikkonen

A bright spot on Fernando Alonso's 2014 season so far is that he is beating his teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

The impending rivalry between the two former champions was a big talking point of the pre-season, but Finn Raikkonen emerged from the winter struggling with the handling of Ferrari's new car.

But in Malaysia, Spaniard Alonso once again outqualified and outraced his teammate.

"I would prefer to have won in Australia and Malaysia," he is quoted by Italy's Tuttosport.

"But as long as you are in front of your teammate, you are doing something extra compared to the expectations of people," Alonso added.

Speaking to Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper, Raikkonen did not want to compare his current situation to 2009, when he also struggled in a Ferrari and was ousted at the end of the season.

"I have no desire to make comparisons like that," he said, "and it doesn't change anything anyway.

"For sure it has not been an ideal start, but we improved the car for Malaysia and the weekend started well even if it finished badly," said Raikkonen, whose race was affected by a clash with Kevin Magnussen.

"Without the accident I see no reason why I shouldn't have done the same as Alonso," he insisted.

Raikkonen is hoping for another improvement in Bahrain.

"We're getting some new parts that should help me, at least that is the plan," he said. "The front end should feel better."

Meanwhile, Toto Wolff says he expects Ferrari to eventually join Red Bull in chasing down Mercedes' current advantage.

"I very much fear their (Red Bull's) recovery on a technical level, it has been impressive," he told Italy's La Repubblica.

"And I also fear Ferrari, of course."

Told by the interviewer than he did well in delivering his final comment without laughing, Mercedes' Wolff insisted: "I'm serious."

(GMM)