Ricciardo hit with Miami F1 grid penalty for safety car infringement

The RB driver has been penalised having been found guilty of overtaking Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg under safety car conditions on lap 28 at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Ricciardo, who has also been hit with two penalty points for the offence, had been hit by Lance Stroll at the previous safety car restart, sustaining heavy damage through which he would ultimately retire from the race.

Hulkenberg had made his way past Ricciardo under safety car conditions at the restart because the Australian had been shunted wide by Aston Martin driver Stroll, allowing the German to continue unpenalised.

Believing he was allowed to retake the position he had lost under neutralised positions, Ricciardo retook his position under the subsequent safety car – deployed to clear up the resultant debris – but a stewards report into the incident revealed he was not permitted to do so.

The report read: “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 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.”

Ricciardo had already been left highly frustrated by the collision with Stroll that had brought a premature end to his race, the eight-time race winner suggesting the Canadian was “making my blood boil”.

He now faces a grid drop in the Miami sprint race, a second consecutive sprint event following China.

Alpine has also been hit with a retrospective penalty for an unsafe incident during a pitstop.

Pierre Gasly was given the green light to leave his box despite the rear-right wheel not being properly attached. The wheel dislodged as the Alpine hit the ground, knocking over a mechanic, though Gasly did not leave his pitbox before the wheel was appropriately secured.

Despite this, Alpine has been fined €10,000, with the stewards determining the team ‘wholly responsible’ for the incident.