26/03/2022
NEWS STORY
Daniel Ricciardo has been handed a grid penalty after he impeded Esteban Ocon during today's qualifying session.
The stewards heard from the McLaren driver who admitted that he did not know that Ocon was approaching on a fast lap as he was not told by his team. By the time he saw the Alpine approaching, it was too late.
The team representative attending the hearing admitted that they had made an error in not warning their driver about Ocon approaching.
Ocon stated that his lap had to be aborted as a result of him being unnecessarily impeded by Ricciardo. Having said that, he stated that his overall performance during the session was not adversely impacted by the aborted lap.
It was clear to the stewards that Ocon was unnecessarily impeded by Ricciardo. The fact that the Frenchman was ultimately able to record a faster lap is irrelevant to the fact that the infringement occurred, such that a timed lap had to be aborted.
It was also clear that McLaren failed in its duty to keep Ricciardo properly informed of approaching cars. This is particularly so given the tight nature of the circuit.
In the circumstances, the stewards imposed a penalty of a drop of 3 grip positions to Ricciardo and fined his team 10,000 euros.
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