Eric Boullier has not given up on the idea of protesting the Mercedes rear wing, despite the Brackley team being out-qualified by Lotus in Melbourne on Saturday. Prior to the session, the Frenchman claimed that he would be lodging an official complaint with the FIA stewards.
Mercedes has developed a system dubbed as ‘super f-duct’. This involves a slot which allows air into the main plane of the rear wing when DRS is open. The FIA has already cleared the system as legal claiming that, while DRS may be driver-operated, the slot itself is not. Boullier claims that, without this driver operation, the system would not work.
“We have clearly a query on the legality of the Mercedes system,” Boullier explained to Sky Sports. “We have just explained our view to Charlie (Whiting, of the FIA) with James (Allison, Lotus Technical Director) and we’ll wait for Charlie to respond. We expect a clarification today or tomorrow, but definitely we would like to fix and understand this position before the next race.”
When asked if - should the FIA’s answer not be what he expects - will Lotus protest Sunday’s race results, Boullier replied:
“We will see, we will see. It’s an option.”
Of the qualifying session, Boullier was delighted by Romain Grosjean’s third position. Other driver Kimi Räikkönen struggled to only 18th on the starting grid.
“It’s a fantastic effort by Romain,” he said. “He was there in all the session the morning and it’s the best result we can get for all of our people in Enstone. With Kimi, it was just traffic and little mistakes. It’s not easy to find a clear lap and make no mistakes and unfortunately he didn’t do it. I think next time will be better – there is no doubt about him being up there with Romain.”
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Kimi Räikkönen
Eric Boullier
Romain Grosjean
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:24.922 | 14 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:25.074 | 15 |
| 3. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 01:25.302 | 21 |
| 4. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:25.336 | 18 |
| 5. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:25.651 | 17 |
| 6. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:25.668 | 18 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:25.686 | 16 |
| 8. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 01:25.908 | 20 |
| 9. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 01:26.451 | 18 |
| 10. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | no time | 16 |
| Full results | ||||
| Romain Grosjean | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Romain Grosjean photos | |||
| Eric Boullier | |||
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| More Eric Boullier photos | |||
| Kimi Räikkönen | |||
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| More Kimi Räikkönen photos | |||
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