Daniel Ricciardo's season has gone from bad to worse as he is handed a ten-place grid penalty for next weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Still smarting - yet smiling - following his disqualification from the season opening Grand Prix in Melbourne, the Australian suffered a disastrous race again today in Malaysia.

At his second pit stop the Red Bull driver, who briefly led teammate Sebastian Vettel before being re-passed by the German, was released before his left-front tyre had been correctly pitted.

Grinding to a halt at the end of the pitlane he had to be pushed back to his garage by his mechanics and by the time he rejoined the race had slipped back down the field to last position.

However, worse was to come, for other than being handed a ten-second stop and go penalty for the unsafe release, the Australian damaged his front wing on the unforgiving Sepang kerbs, picking up a puncture in the process.

Retiring shortly after, the Red Bull driver understood to have encountered yet another fuel low meter issue, there was more bad news when the Race Stewards handed him a ten-place grid penalty for next week's race having been released "in an unsafe condition during the race", a breach of Article 23.12 c) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

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Chris Balfe

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Paul C, 05/04/2014 3:22

"If the Constructor's Championship means real money for the teams, eliminate the CC points. Let the driver keep the WDC points."

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2. Posted by Spindoctor, 31/03/2014 14:08

"Who'd be Vettel's team-mate, eh?

Even when they manage to field two usable cars, that last for a whole GP, RBR seem unable (or unwilling) to let anyone actually compete with the "chosen one". Yet again 100% of the "bad luck" lands at Seb's team mate's door.... If you want to succeed at RBR, don't be too fast, and don't be an Aussie :-)

In this instance it's totally unjust as everyone else has pointed-out. Only penalise the driver if he unfairly benefits from the incident. In general the non-driving penalties should attach to the teams, not the drivers."

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3. Posted by GoodPublicity, 31/03/2014 10:58

" " . . . the Red Bull driver understood to have encountered yet another fuel low meter issue, . . ."

Has this crucial episode been lost in the maelstrom of penalties and intra-team bickering? The boil on the FIA's backside must be lanced - tout suite!"

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4. Posted by Paul RB, 31/03/2014 10:33

"I agree with the comments regarding team penalties versus driver penalties. There should be a clear demarcation for driver caused issues (time penalties, grid penalties etc) and penalties for technical issues (pit crew, gearbox changes, over quota engine changes etc), which should attract WCC deductions and/or fines and not penalise the drivers' prospects. "

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5. Posted by TokyoAussie, 31/03/2014 3:44

"Two penalties for a single offence? This is ridiculous. Why aren't there three or four?"

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6. Posted by tjwiffen, 30/03/2014 22:54

"I agree with 'GoodPublicity', why should the driver get penalized twice for an offence he had no control over ? It would be different if the driver had driven off while being instructed to wait. Red Bull should get constructor points deducted for this particular offence."

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7. Posted by markscottuk, 30/03/2014 18:01

"This is surely Double Joepardy which is not legal in the UK? "

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8. Posted by Kkiirmki, 30/03/2014 14:06

"Why is he getting penalised twice for the same offence?"

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9. Posted by GoodPublicity, 30/03/2014 12:38

"More FIA 'kangaroo justice'. Red Bull should be penalised constructor points, but not the driver who plainly had no say in his release.

Red Bull's pit-stop controller needs to be replaced for committing two stuff-ups in one race, but the team's too-frequent pitwork errors suggest that Christian Horner, like Martin Whitmarsh, is too nice a guy to wield the axe."

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