Two five-second time penalties for Norris and Raikkonen overtakes drops Ricciardo out of points and into 11th at French GP
Monday 24 June 2019 09:42, UK
Daniel Ricciardo has been relegated out of the points at the French GP after being given two time penalties for illegal overtakes on a dramatic final lap.
Ricciardo drops from seventh to 11th after being handed separate five-second sanctions for quick-fire incidents with McLaren's Lando Norris and Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen gains a place to seventh, the other Renault of Nico Hulkenberg takes eighth, and Norris moves into ninth.
Pierre Gasly is promoted to 10th and takes the final point ahead of the demoted Ricciardo.
After stewards handed down their decision, Ricciardo tweeted:
Revised French GP result
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes
3. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
4. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
6. Carlos Sainz, McLaren
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault
9. Lando Norris, McLaren
10. Pierre Gasly, Red Bull
11. Daniel Ricciardo, Renault
What happened on the last lap?
A largely soporific French GP was enlivened in the closing stages as Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Hulkenberg quickly closed on McLaren's Norris, whose car had developed a hydraulics fault.
On the final lap, Ricciardo made a move down the outside of Norris into the Turn Eight chicane but outbraked himself, going over the run-off area before rejoining the track to complete the move, with Norris then going off circuit.
Raikkonen then passed both drivers exiting the chicane, but Ricciardo soon repassed the Alfa Romeo down the following straight - but with all four wheels off the circuit.
Speaking to Sky F1 immediately after the race, Ricciardo said: "I care, but I don't care. I'm glad that I had a crack," said Ricciardo. "I was certainly trying to pull it up and keep it all on there. It was tight.
"I'm getting more comfortable in the car in racing situations, but still not quite where I was with the Red Bull. So when I do brake on the limit I feel I'm always on the limit of pulling the car up. But it was fun and it all got pretty exciting."
But analysing the incidents on the SkyPad, Anthony Davidson said: "Personally I expect come kind of penalty to come from this."
Sky F1's Nico Rosberg added: "I have to follow what Anthony said - you have to respect the white lines, especially on the straight. Daniel just decided to run off the track and pass - that's not allowed. So I guess he needs to get some sort of penalty."
What did the stewards say?
After speaking to Ricciardo, Norris and Raikkonen after the race to hear their respective sides of the story, plus reviewing video evidence, Paul Ricard stewards ruled against the Renault driver in their verdict on Sunday evening.
Regarding the initial incident with Norris, the stewards explained:
'Ricciardo started to pass Norris on the outside at turn 8. At the exit of the corner he distinctly left the track and the Stewards determined that he re-joined at an angle that forced Norris off the track to avoid the collision.
'The Stewards accepted Ricciardo's explanation that when he was re-joining the track, he had slowed considerably, going down extra gears and locking up the front left tyre. He also stated that the rumble strips in the turn made the car more difficult to control. However, the Stewards considered that the sequence of events constituted re-joining the track unsafely, and he subsequently took the position from Norris.'
For that, Ricciardo was handed a first five-second time penalty and had two penalty points added to his licence.
When examining the subsequent move on Raikkonen, the judging panel decided Ricciardo had indeed passed Raikkonen by running off the circuit.
'Raikkonen defended his position on the straight moving slightly to the right. However, Raikkonen never put any part of his car off the track and he did not make any move to the right while any part of Ricciardo's car was alongside, and did not crowd Ricciardo off the track.
'To make the pass Ricciardo drove off track and then subsequently completed the pass, gaining a lasting advantage. The Stewards reviewed the case to see if it was a continuation of the previous incident. However, Ricciardo clearly had regained control of the car following his incident with Norris and the pass off track was a separate incident.'
Stewards imposed another five-second penalty for this and added a further penalty point, taking Ricciardo up to five for the last 12 months.
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