It’s believed a handful of teams are considering a protest against Saturday’s Australian Grand Prix qualifying result because of the legality of Mercedes F-duct.
Whilst the system has been deemed legal by the governing body, a handful of teams, namely Red Bull and Lotus, are unhappy with the decision and believe the cars should be disqualified.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Lotus team principal Eric Boullier confirmed a protest was a likely option his outfit may explore, but stopped short of saying for definite if he would approach the FIA.
“We have clearly a query on the legality of the Mercedes system,” explained the Frenchman. “We have just explained our view to Charlie [Whiting, FIA] 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.”
Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug says he is aware of the potential protests, but doesn’t believe the team are outside the rules.
“I’ve heard something like that,” he said. “The FIA has its opinion and so do we.
“I remember the noise made about the double diffuser; a noise, incidentally, that came from the same place,” he said referring to Red Bull’s protest in 2009 over the double-diffusers pioneered by Mercedes GP who were then called Brawn GP, as well as Williams and Toyota.
Michael Schumacher qualified fourth, with his teammate in seventh.
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