Red Bull out on a limb after Ferrari and Mercedes back FIA in fuel row

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo before he was stripped of his second place at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Photograph: Srdjan Suki/EPA

As Red Bull prepare to lodge their appeal against the disqualification of Daniel Ricciardo from the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari and Mercedes have called for the FIA to be allowed to "manage" and "control" the new technology changes.

Ricciardo's second place was achieved in front of an ecstatic Albert Park crowd of 100,000 but five hours after he had left the crowd to celebrate, the Australian was disqualified because of a fuel-flow irregularity; teams have to operate with fuel flow rate which does not exceed 100kg per hour.

Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, has described the FIA's fuel-sensoring equipment as "immature" and "unreliable" and other teams have also noticed a gap between the sensor's rate and their own fuel-flow estimation. The difference is that the other teams appear to have gone along with the FIA and their equipment, while Red Bull have gone out on a limb and used their own fuel-flow model. They have until Thursday to appeal Ricciardo's disqualification.

Stefano Domenicali, the Ferrari team principal, said: "We need to rely on the fact that it is a situation that is well managed by the FIA. We have the FIA that will do their job and I am sure there will not be a problem at all."

Toto Wolff of Mercedes said: "The FIA is obviously controlling fuel flow and checking with all the teams, and it is a question of learning by doing it between the FIA and the teams.

The Mercedes executive director added: "The fuel-flow meter is an FIA system and this needs to be integrated in the cars. This is a learning process where the teams support the FIA and vice versa."

Thankfully, the Australian Grand Prix was not dominated by new technology, and perhaps the most exciting story was the emergence of a new generation of drivers, led by McLaren's Kevin Magnussen, whose third place was later promoted to second, behind the winner, Nico Rosberg.

"It was unbelievable really, such a fantastic weekend," Magnussen said. "The team have taken care of me so well and I am proud of the team. We came here with a car that was not working so well and managed to turn it round to become a fantastic car and I am proud of the team in doing that."

As Magnussen spoke, the McLaren chief, Ron Dennis, stepped in and said: "Keep your feet on the ground, Kevin. A very wise old man went into his house and nailed to the ceiling was a pair of shoes. I asked what they were for and he said they were his son's shoes because every time he sees them it reminds him to keep his feet on the ground. I will put some in your hotel room."

When Magnussen was asked whether it was difficult to keep calm he said: "No, because it does not feel real. It is so strange that this is happening. I have been dreaming about this for my whole life. I have now done my first F1 race, I was able to get on the podium and I did it with McLaren. It is my dream. It was not a win but it feels really good.