Daniel Ricciardo was already far from happy after the Chinese Grand Prix, and it's likely that he was even more depressed after being demoted from the grid for the next race.
Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll was the focus of Ricciardo's anger after the race, with Ricciardo shouting “fuck you” after Stroll hit him from behind during the safety car restart.
Daniel Ricciardo demoted 3 grid places at Miami Grand Prix
This resulted in Stroll being given a 10 second time penalty and two points on his FIA Super License, while Ricciardo was now suspended for a safety car related violation.
After Ricciardo overtook Nico Hulkenberg's Haas behind the safety car, stewards investigated and Ricciardo admitted he had done it on purpose, but only because Hulkenberg had done the same thing before. He claimed that.
This explanation did not sway the stewards, who handed Ricciardo a 10-second time penalty. However, as Stroll was forced to retire due to the damage he sustained, he was given a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Miami.
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“Stewards have heard from the driver of car 3 (Daniel Ricciardo), the driver of car 27 (Nico Hulkenberg) and team principals, and have reviewed the positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, team radio and in-car video. “We have considered the evidence and determined that car No. 3 overtook car No. 27 while the race was under safety car conditions,” the report began.
“The driver of the No. 3 car admitted that he had intentionally overtaken the No. 27 car, but explained that he had previously been passed by the No. 27 car under the safety car on lap 28, so he felt he could overtake him.
“We note that under Article 55.8, car No. 27 was permitted to overtake car No. 3 on lap 28. Car No. 3 was legally allowed to overtake car No. 27 while the race was under the safety car. There was no basis for this.
“For this reason, we imposed a 10-second time penalty on car No. 3. Since car No. 3 was unable to fulfill its penalty due to its retirement, we imposed a three-place grid penalty on car No. 3 in its next race.”
Ricciardo finished his first race of the 2024 F1 season as the RB team earned 0 points after Hiroki Tsunoda was forced to retire following a collision with Hulkenberg's Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen at the Shanghai International Circuit. I'm still waiting to get the points.
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