25/03/2014
NEWS STORY
Ahead of appeal hearing into his team's disqualification from the season opening Australian Grand Prix, Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has warned he could quit F1.
The days of the Formula Una girls a distant memory, the Austrian billionaire, who also owns the Toro Rosso team, has warned that if he feels the sport is heading in the wrong direction he would have to seriously consider his future in it.
Whilst many believe the fuel flow meter issue to be an open and shut case, with his team already on the back foot, this is a clear warning from a man who enjoys much influence within the sport but who has, thus far, not exerted it.
Asked under what circumstances he might leave F1, he told Austria's Kurier: "The question is not so much whether it makes economic sense but the reasons would be to do with sportsmanship, political influence, and so on. In these issues there is a clear limit to what we can accept."
Following four championship winning years, 2014 has got off to a pretty dreadful start, the Austrian team, like its fellow Renault users, clearly losing out to the Mercedes and Ferrari teams. While little was expected in Melbourne, Ricciardo's front-row qualifying performance and his podium winning drive next day gave the team cause for optimism. However, the subsequent row over fuel flow not only resulted in Ricciardo's disqualification, it also cast doubt on the team's integrity - not for the first time - and cavalier approach to the rules.
Aware, like most teams, of the issue with the meters, Red Bull ignored the FIA and came up with its own solution, a move which has not impressed the sport's governing body or rival teams.
Mateschitz, who despite the money he has poured into the sport has largely remained in the shadows, is also critical of the new formula.
You have to make F1 like it used to be - the top discipline of motorsports," he said. "F1 is not there to set new records in fuel consumption, nor to make it possible to have a whispered conversation during a race.
"It is absurd to race a lap seconds slower than last year. GP2 partially provides more racing and fighting and almost equal lap times as F1 with a small fraction of the budget."
While some might see his threat of withdrawal from the sport as the actions of a poor loser, many will concur with his thoughts on the direction in which the sport is heading.
Chris Balfe