SINGAPORE, Sept 22 — Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo will start today’s Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid after stewards excluded him from qualifying for a breach of Formula One’s rules.
The Australian had his qualifying results annulled early today when it was discovered he had exceeded his energy recovery power limit in the opening segment of qualification.
Ricciardo had finished eighth on the grid after qualifying yesterday but the infringement means he will start 20th and last at the Marina Bay Street Circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult.
Renault were unhappy with the decision but have opted not to appeal despite claiming Ricciardo benefited by only one-thousandth of a second.
“Renault F1 Team acknowledges the decision from the FIA Stewards to disqualify Daniel Ricciardo from the qualifying session of the Singapore Grand Prix after he benefited from an advantage measured at one-microsecond due to a kerb hit that caused his MGU-K (part of the recovery system) to overrev on his slowest lap of Q1,” the team said in a statement.
Ricciardo’s Renault team mate Nico Hulkenberg, who has not been penalised, will move up to start eighth on the grid, between the McLarens of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez also picked up a grid penalty after the Mexican opted to change his gearbox following a crash in the final practice on Saturday.
Perez was relegated five places to 15th for the unscheduled equipment change.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is on pole, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes, his team mate Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. — AFP
