Australian GP: Daniel Ricciardo handed three-place grid penalty
Written by News on 23/03/2018
Daniel Ricciardo will receive a three-place grid penalty at the Australian GP for driving too fast under red flag conditions during Friday practice.
Although the Red Bull driver was, in the words of the stewards, found to have “slowed significantly” and “proceeded with due care”, Ricciardo still did not stay above the mandatory minimum time set by the FIA in the final two mini sectors of the lap after the red flag was thrown mid-way through the session.
Ricciardo “admitted an error in reading his dash and was slightly below the minimum time”.
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As a result, the Australian has been handed a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s season-opening race and had two penalty points placed on his previously clean licence.
But Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz criticised the stewards’ verdict, tweeting: “Talk about not seeing the bigger picture: The red flag was for a loose wire on the startline, not a crash, and Ricciardo wasn’t going to drive over it anyway as was coming into pits. Disproportionate 3 place grid penalty that could take home driver out of contention for race win.”
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The penalty is a heavy blow to both Ricciardo – Australia’s only F1 driver – and Red Bull, who pushed Mercedes close in practice at Albert Park.
The Australian now cannot start Sunday’s race higher than fourth place.
Ricciardo was only seventh quickest in Practice Two but was on course to set a time good enough for the top five before the same red flag intervened.
No home driver has ever recorded a pole position or podium finish in the 33-year history of the Australian GP, although Ricciardo did climb the rostrum in second place in 2014 only to be disqualified for a fuel flow technicality on his Red Bull car.
The 28-year-old endured a nightmare 2017 event in Melbourne when he crashed in qualifying and then retired from the race before half distance with engine problems.
The full FIA reasoning for Ricciardo’s penalty
‘The Stewards examined telemetry, video, car position data evidence and hard from Daniel Ricciardo, the driver of car 3 and the team representative.
‘The Stewards reviewed the data and video and found that Ricciardo did in fact fail to stay above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU in the penultimate and final mini marshalling sectors. The Stewards also found that Ricciardo slowed by as much as 175kmph from his fast times at Turn 12 and was consistently and significantly slower in the final three turns, indicating that he was fully complying with the requirements of Appendix H of the International Sporting Code. However, he admitted an error in reading his dash and was slightly below the minimum time.
‘As the regulation states, Article. 31.6 was added this year to ensure that drivers reduce speed sufficiently during a red flag. Breach of this regulation is seen to be an extremely serious matter. However, in this case, the Stewards thoroughly reviewed the breach and found that the driver slowed significantly, such that no danger was created, and that the driver proceeded with due care. The Stewards therefore are imposing a lesser penalty than usual, and impose a three grid place penalty and two penalty points.’
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