Red Bull has been given back one of its curfew exemptions after successfully proving the member of staff who entered the circuit outside the allowed hours, wasn’t ‘associated with the operation of its car’.
Four teams broke the curfew this weekend; Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Mercedes and Virgin. The latter three are believed to have been caused by marketing staff entering the paddock.
Red Bull successfully challenged the FIA after proving the employee was from sponsor Infiniti and on a guest pass, therefore the outfit now has two remaining ‘jokers’ left having broke the curfew twice before.
A statement issued by the FIA read: “Having questioned the person causing the breach of curfew in the Red Bull Racing team case and heard his explanations, it is now clear, that this person is not a team member of the Red Bull Racing team and is not in any way associated with the operation of the car.
“Therefore the Red Bull Racing team did not break Article 30.9 of the 2011 Formula One Sporting Regulation.”
Update: Mercedes and Virgin have both had their exemptions returned for a similar reason. A second statement from the governing body added:
“Having spoken to the Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team and Marussia Virgin Racing team in more details, it is apparent that the team personnel concerned with the breach of the curfew were not involved in the operation of the car.”
Discussion about this post