Daniel Ricciardo had no part in Red Bull F1 team's fuel-flow call
Daniel Ricciardo says he had no involvement in Red Bull's decision to ignore advice from Formula 1's ruling body in the fuel-flow controversy that ruined his Australian Grand Prix
Red Bull has appealed Ricciardo's exclusion from second place in the 2014 Formula 1 season-opener for a fuel-flow irregularity.
Ricciardo said he had no idea of discussions between his team and the FIA over reducing his car's fuel-flow rate during the race, and only found out he had been disqualified when he reached the airport several hours after the chequered flag.
"I knew nothing about it," said Ricciardo when asked by AUTOSPORT what he had known knew the fuel-flow situation during the race in Melbourne.
"During the race we were doing the whole fuel saving thing and the team was giving information on how much to save during a lap, but nothing more than that.
"I did the race, I did what I felt was the best I could, and all the controversy afterwards was not really my fight.
"That was for the team to take over. I was proud of what I did. I felt I did the job I should have done and the rest was out of my control.
"Sunday night was a bit disappointing. It's not the news you want to hear when you're trying to celebrate. [But] in any case I definitely took more positives out of the weekend than that negative."
The FIA will hear Red Bull's appeal in Paris next month, where the team will argue that it complied with the rules in Australia.
Team boss Christian Horner told AUTOSPORT Red Bull had no choice but to ignore inconsistent FIA sensor readings in Australia, in order to avoid a "significant impact" on performance.
Nevertheless, Ricciardo remains confident that his team will make the right calls in this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix to avoid a repeat controversy.
"Obviously the team's been heavily involved in it during the last nine or 10 days," Ricciardo added.
"I trust that they'll do what they need to do to not encounter this issue again."
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