Saudi Arabian GP: Daniel Ricciardo handed three-place grid penalty for impeding Ocon
Mar 27, 2022
Jeddah [Saudi Arabia], March 27 : Daniel Ricciardo has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Alpine's Esteban Ocon in qualifying - the McLaren driver set to start 14th on Sunday.
Ricciardo qualified 12th, both McLarens missing out on Q3 as team mate Lando Norris took 11th on the grid, but the Australian was found to have got in Ocon's way during the Frenchman's flying lap at the start of Q2.
"The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 3 (Daniel Ricciardo), the driver of Car 31(Esteban Ocon) and team representatives, and examined video, team radio evidence and found that Car 3 impeded Car 31," read the Stewards' ruling as per formula1.com.
Ricciardo was not warned by his team that Ocon was on a fast lap, and Ocon admitted that his "overall performance" was not affected by the aborted lap.
Yet, the Stewards ruled the above "irrelevant" and handed Ricciardo a three-place penalty, and one penalty point - McLaren having been given a 10,000 EUR fine for the incident.
