Ricciardo reflects on his lost points from Paul Ricard
Thursday 27 June 2019 18:52, UK
Daniel Ricciardo has described the decision to hand him two penalties at the French GP as "extreme".
The Renault driver lost his seventh-place finish at Paul Ricard after final-lap passes on Lando Norris and Kimi Raikkonen in the space of three corners were judged to be illegal. The 10s combined penalty dropped him out the out of the points and into 11th.
Speaking for the first time since the stewards' verdict last Sunday, Ricciardo says he can see why he was penalised for the Raikkonen move down the straight - but was disappointed to also been punished for his earlier pass on Norris' McLaren.
"Two I think was harsh, one I can understand," a reflective Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1.
"When I was behind him [Raikkonen], I knew it was going to be close, but I saw a bit of a gap before the white line and I was like 'stuff it'.
"I also knew that if I go to the outside I'm not going to clear the move before Turn 10, and he's either going to drag me out or Nico (Hulkenberg) was going to stream both of us, so for me I only had only choice in my head at the time.
"I saw a little bit of daylight, I went for it, and it wasn't there. I knew I'd probably get something for that, or at least a slap on the wrist.
"But the Lando one... I just think to treat it as two separate incidents was a bit extreme. Already giving me the penalty for Kimi dropped me to 10th, I think that was a big enough penalty, but to drop me out of the points…
"Whatever, we'll fight another day."
The whole Austrian GP weekend is live only on Sky Sports F1. Sunday's race begins at 2.10pm with build-up from 12.30pm. Find out more about Formula 1 on Sky Sports
