Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo in action during the opening F1 race of the season in Melbourne in March.

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FIA reject Red Bull's appeal against Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification at Australian GP

Australian driver finished race second but later disqualified for exceeding fuel flow limit

"We are sorry for Daniel that he will not be awarded the 18 points ... " Red Bull said

NASCAR's Gene Haas may delay entry of his proposed U.S. F1 team until 2016 season

CNN  — 

Red Bull’s appeal against Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification at last month’s Australian Grand Prix has been rejected by the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

The Australian driver finished the race in second place but was later disqualified after it was found that his car had exceeded the maximum fuel flow rate.

A meeting of the FIA’s International Court of Appeal heard evidence from all parties on Monday before announcing their decision on Tuesday morning.

Ricciardo, who was making his debut for Red Bull, finished the opening race of the Formula One season behind Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg only for stewards to later rule that his car had broken the sport’s new fuel regulations.

The rule, which states that each car is limited to 100kg of fuel per race, was introduced to make the sport more fuel efficient.

Following the race in Melbourne, Red Bull argued that there had been inconsistencies with the FIA’s fuel flow meter throughout the weekend, but motorsport’s governing body did not agree.

In a statement released Tuesday, Red Bull said: “We always believed we adhered to the technical regulations throughout the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. We are sorry for Daniel that he will not be awarded the 18 points from the event, which we think he deserved.

“We will continue to work very hard to amass as many points as possible for the team, Daniel and Sebastian (Vettel) throughout the season.

“We will now move on from this and concentrate on this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.”

Ricciardo, understandably, was also disappointed, but said the ruling had made him hungrier than ever.

“It’s disappointing not to get the 18 points from Australia, but if anything it gives me more motivation to get back on the podium as soon as possible,” Ricciardo said in a statement released on the Red Bull Racing website.

“I’ve had a few set-backs in the first couple of races this year, but in Bahrain I demonstrated that, if anything, I’m stronger for it and hungrier than ever to get back on the podium. Not that I need any more motivation, I’m pumped!”

The unsuccessful appeal means that the standings in both the constructors’ and drivers’ championship remain the same with the reigning world champions staying in fourth place with 35 points and Ricciardo 10th with 12 points.

NASCAR’s Haas mulls F1 entry date

Meanwhile, NASCAR team owner Gene Haas says he will make a decision over the next few weeks as to when his proposed U.S. F1 team will make its debut in the sport.

Haas learned last week that the FIA had granted an application for the new team to enter the F1 championship. Initially, Haas hoped to line up on the grid next season, but that may be too early, he says.

“I think 2015 is too close and 2016 is too far,” Haas said, Formula1.com reported.

“If we wait we’ll end up spending even more money because we’ll just be in a neutral position. We need to come up with a plan where we can arrive with a car, based on our partners’ technology, within the rules of the FIA.”

Haas has appointed Gunther Steiner, previously a technical director at Red Bull and Jaguar, as his team principal.

“We will announce in six to eight weeks what we are doing,” Steiner said, Formula1.com reported.

“We want to make the right decision; we don’t want to jump and say ‘wow, we got this wrong’ and fail. We have an option to start in 2016, so we will speak with people and make a qualified decision.”

Read more: Red Bull appeal Ricciardo disqualification