Daniel Ricciardo has been penalized by moving three places back on the grid for his next F1 start for overtaking Nico Hulkenberg during the Chinese Grand Prix in a safety car. The sanction also includes 2 penalty points.
“The driver of car #3 admitted that he overtook car #27 intentionally. He explained that he felt he had the right to do so because the #27 passed him in a safety car before the 28th lap. We note that #27 was given permission for this overtake on the 28th lap as a result of Article 55.8,” reads the stewards’ decision.
“That being the case, there is no justifiable reason for car #3 to overtake #27 in safety car conditions.” So we impose a 10 second penalty. As #3 cannot serve the penalty, it becomes 3 places back on the grid for the next race the driver will compete in.’
The said permission given to Hülkenberg to pass Ricciardo was a consequence of Stroll’s hit on the Visa RB driver. According to the regulation, one can be given “if a particular car on the track has an obvious problem”. At the next exit of the safety car, Ricciardo is not allowed to pass Hülkenberg.
This only adds salt to the wound after the Australian was ruled out of the race due to a hit from Lance Stroll. He was very angry when he realized that the Aston Martin driver’s initial reaction was to blame him for the accident.
The Alpin team was fined 10,000 euros for the situation during Pierre Gasly’s pit stop, in which a mechanic was hit
The stewards determined that there was a combination of team errors and a problem with the system detecting the end of tire change signals that led to what happened.
“It is clear that the pilot is not at fault. He sees a green signal and releases the clutch, which moves the car forward. However, the competitor stops immediately when the signal turns red. We found that the team bears all the blame for what happened. Therefore, we impose a fine of 10,000 euros,” the decision reads.
