More woe for Daniel Ricciardo as Miami grid drop looms after Safety Car overtake

Daniel Ricciardo has been handed a three-place grid drop for overtaking under the Safety Car during the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

The RB driver was found to have overtaken Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas during a Safety Car period in Shanghai.

Ricciardo was forced to retire due to damage sustained to his car when he was run into from behind by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, meaning he was unable to serve the usual 10-second time penalty.

As a result, the penalty will be carried over to the Miami Grand Prix, where it will be converted into a three-place grid penalty.

Ricciardo has also picked up two penalty points on his licence for the incident.

It marks the latest blow for the Australian who is yet to score a point so far in what has been a difficult start to the campaign.

The stewards verdict in full

“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.

“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.”