Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Paul Ricard, 2019

Ricciardo accepts one of his two last-lap penalties

2019 French Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo said he agreed with one of the two penalties he was given after going off-track twice on the final lap of the French Grand Prix.

The Renault driver admitted his five-second time penalty for going off while passing Kimi Raikkonen was “slightly inevitable if I’m really honest”. However he took issue with his second penalty, for forcing Lando Norris off the track after he went off at the chicane.

“I would treat it as like one incident not two separate ones,” said Ricciardo. “I think to be honest the Lando one is the one I don’t necessarily agree with because I think if anything it kind of slowed us all down. I don’t think I gained an advantage what I did with Lando.

“I think the Kimi one you would say sure, I went off-track to make the move. But with Lando I don’t think it was like that. If I was is in someone else’s position like Kimi’s position, sure if I got passed off the track then I would’ve said ‘Hey what’s going on?’ I just don’t know why it was treated as two separate incidents, that’s all.”

The stewards said they “reviewed the case to see if it was a continuation of the previous incident” and ruled “Ricciardo clearly had regained control of the car following his incident with Norris and the pass off-track was a separate incident.”

However Ricciardo said it was “harsh” to give him two penalties. “I get one and I get why they needed to do one because otherwise it’s like ‘well, he’s off track everyone’s going to complain what’s the rules for?'”

The combined effect of the two penalties left him outside the top 10. “I just thought to drop me out of the points was too harsh. With the one I would have jobs already to tenth. So give me one point for trying.

“Nothing against [Pierre] Gasly but he wasn’t in our battle at all and then he kind of steals the point. It’s like, I didn’t think that justified it. But it’s all good, I got over it pretty quickly.”

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12 comments on “Ricciardo accepts one of his two last-lap penalties”

  1. I don’t think I gained an advantage what I did with Lando.

    I’d agree, but I think the penalty was because Lando lost 3 places as a result of Ricciardo’s actions. Not because Ricciardo gained anything himself.
    Also

    I think the Kimi one you would say sure, I went off-track to make the move. But with Lando I don’t think it was like that.

    Weren’t all 4 wheels off the track?

    1. The thing is, for the stewards there is an imaginary wall. This wall isn’t physically their for obvious reasons, but if it were, he would have crashed into that wall and wouldn’t have been able to rejoin the track. Daniel’s advantage was that he caused a disadvantage for Lando, as he was now able to catch Lando’s exit out of the chicane, pushed him of the track and Norris lost a lot of places.

      I’d say the move on Kimi was much more acceptable than the move on Lando. But I get why he got the penalty for both.

      Personally I’d rather see more of this kind of racing rather than handing out penalty’s. Especially since it is so hard to overtake in F1. On Paul Ricard it is quite easy, make that chicane entry much wider. Drivers won’t use that part of the road under normal circumstances. Excuse my awful photoshop skills:

      Now: https://ibb.co/RvsktnZ
      Wider: https://ibb.co/4gWBHj2

      Ofcourse, not exactly like this, but give the drivers a little more room on entry, and voila, there is room to ‘overshoot’ a little without making the track faster. I think

  2. When Sky showed Norris a replay after the race he didn’t seem particular bothered by what Ricciardo did & both He & Sainz who was also watching it seemed to think it was just good racing, Something Hamilton also said when he saw it after the race.

    They both flagged the move on Kimi though.

  3. Maybe I’m wrong, but hasn’t the penalty for the incident with Lando, given for an unsafe return to the track – forcing Lando off track to avoid a crash? Ric’s advantage was just luck because he could have hit Lando and both would be out of the race!

  4. As far as Gasly gaining a position when he wasn’t involved and the harshness of Ricciardo’s penalty, well surely that’s the point of penalties?

    If after they’re applied you’re no worse than before then there’s no disincentive against trying breaking the rules.

    1. @philipgb – yeah, that bit about Gasly struck me a bit odd, and uncharacteristic of what someone like Ricciardo would say.

  5. Strangely enough, I thought the second one was harsh.

    How many times do we see similar passing going down the pit (start finish) straight, especially atbstarts where drivers use every inch available against the wall etc when trying to pass.

    Cutting across a corner or a chicane sure – but on a straight, particularly when you’re risking losing control of the car in marbles and rubbish….. I can’t see how there’s an “advantage” other than as was the case with Dan one car being significantly canton quicker that the other.

    1. IMHO the second penalty was a slam dunk. All 4 wheels off the track in complete control of the vehicle, he has purposely broken the rules to gain an advantage.

      You cannot compare it to the first lap. The stewards give extra leeway there because there are so many cars at the same place on track, and this is well known and accepted.

      The first penalty was justified, but not as easy to call. I still think he should have had it, as he should have been able to control his re-entry. The runoff is abrasive tarmack. I don’t accept that this was in any way similar to Canada, where Vettel was clearly out of control.

      And I also don’t accept that they were one incident. The stewards were right that he’d gained control (even if he was out of control on re-entry) before the second incident.

  6. bonjour monsieur
    28th June 2019, 5:26

    Can see why he didn’t think the Norris one was a problem because he didn’t get pinged for doing the same thing to Grosjean earlier in the race.

  7. Let them race!

    1. They do, but you can’t really call making up your own circuit to get past someone racing. There has to be boundaries

  8. “And the Lando one is the one I don’t necessarily agree with because I think, if anything, it kind of slowed us all down and I don’t think I gained an advantage with what I did with Lando.”
    – The penalty for that incident wasn’t due to gaining an advantage, though, but for an unsafe re-entry.

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