Marko criticises rule-changing and Red Bull’s rivals

Dr Helmut Marko is critical not only of the moves to change the engine mapping rules mid-season, but also of rival teams who lobbied the FIA and then refused to own up at a meeting earlier this week.

In the wake of the Hockenheim controversy about Red Bull’s reportedly legal traction control and engine exhaust blowing settings, F1’s governing body on Wednesday issued a rule clarification that means the team must revert to a more conventional setup in Hungary this weekend and beyond.

The move follows the FIA revealing its concern about the Red Bull solution at Hockenheim, but admitting the wording of the existing rules made it powerless to stop it.

Wednesday’s clarification closes the loophole.

“We were not cleared (at Hockenheim) because we falsified the evidence, but because we were within the regulations,” Austrian Marko, Red Bull’s motor racing consultant, told Servus TV.

He railed against overnight rule changes.

“If something is green, you can’t then make it blue,” said Marko.

“Nowhere does it say that we can’t use the regulations in our favour.”

He also criticised the behaviour of Red Bull’s rivals, who according to speculation lobbied the FIA for the change but were then silent in Monday’s technical meeting in London.

“Again and again, there are people who do such a thing.  I’m talking of the other teams,” said Marko.

“Then on Monday, when we could have addressed it professionally and objectively, it is not even addressed.”

Red Bull is also still annoyed about Sebastian Vettel’s demotion from second to fifth at Hockenheim for his illegal pass on Jenson Button.

Marko has already referred to a “double standard” sometimes employed by the FIA when it comes to penalties, and now team boss Christian Horner says he has reviewed footage of Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso’s pole lap at Hockenheim.

“On the last corner he was off the circuit with all four wheels,” the Briton is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport, intimating that the Spaniard also broke the rules for advantage but was not penalised.

© RIF | GMM