[raisemyrent]

I think it would've been foolish for any team in any sport not to inquire as to the legality of the pass upon finding out that there was a possibility that a sanction went unapplied.
As for breaking the seal, I remember in 2000, Ferrari froze, or significantly cooled their refuelling rigs at Monza to mess with the volume to gain an ever so slight advantage over McLaren at their home race. This kind of stuff is how F1 has been for a while. Remember Prost and Senna? Talk about un-sportmanlike. Red Bull seems to have won because their car is quick, without being overtly aggressive. McLaren had a great car and somehow ended up 3rd. Ferrari tried everything they had, ran essentially only one driver, and narrowly missed out. Different teams, I guess.