Daniel Ricciardo‘s challenging weekend at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix has been compounded by a three-grid place penalty issued for the upcoming Formula 1 race in Miami.
The penalty stems from an incident during a Safety Car period where Ricciardo, driving Car 3, overtook Nico Hulkenberg in Car 27. The incident was not broadcast during the race, but the stewards reviewed multiple sources of evidence including positioning data, video footage, timing data, team radio communications, and in-car video.
Upon examination, it was determined that Ricciardo had indeed overtaken Hulkenberg while the Safety Car was deployed, a move that contravenes standard race regulations.
Ricciardo admitted to the overtaking manoeuvre and argued that it was in response to a previous incident where Hulkenberg had overtaken him under similar conditions. The stewards noted that Hulkenberg’s earlier manoeuvre was allowed under Article 55.8 of the racing regulations, which Ricciardo’s action was not.
Initially, the stewards issued a 10-second time penalty to Ricciardo. However, due to his retirement from the race before the penalty could be served, it was converted into a three-grid place penalty for his next race appearance.
FIA statement on Ricciardo penalty
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 3 (Daniel Ricciardo), the driver of Car 27 (Nico Hulkenberg), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, team radio and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 3 overtook Car 27 while the race was under Safety Car conditions,” a statement from the Stewards read.
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“The driver of Car 3 admitted that he overtook Car 27 deliberately but he explained that he felt that he could do so because Car 27 had overtaken him under safety car before on Lap 28.
“We note that Car 27 was permitted to overtake Car 3 on Lap 28 because of Article 55.8. There was no justifiable basis for Car 3 to overtake Car 27 while the race was under Safety Car conditions.
“We accordingly imposed a 10 second time penalty on Car 3. As Car 3 was unable to serve the penalty due to retirement, we imposed a 3-grid place penalty to Car 3 for the next race in which the driver participates.
” Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”
