Breaking news
Formula 1 Styrian GP
Ricciardo avoids grid penalty after Friday crash
Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault Formula 1 chassis and power unit did not have to be changed after the Australian’s heavy crash in practice for the Styrian GP on Friday.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jul 11, 2020, 1:16 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The gearbox has been swapped to the race unit used in last weekend’s Austrian GP, as was originally planned, which means the Australian will not take a penalty.
Ricciardo himself has also been passed fit to drive, once action finally gets underway after the third practice session was cancelled due to heavy rain.
“After a thorough inspection of the engine it all seems good,” team boss Cyril Abiteboul told Motorsport.com on Saturday morning. “We were switching to the race gearbox anyway, so no worries there.”
Read Also:
- Ricciardo hit knee against steering column in FP2 crash
- Final Styrian GP practice cancelled due to rain
Abiteboul said that Ricciardo was on the limit and that wind conditions played a role in the accident.
“First and foremost Daniel is fine,” he explained soon after the session. “Even though he is looking a bit shell-shocked, he is absolutely fine. He has a very small bruise on his leg, but nothing to be worried about.
“As to what happened, I think the car is pushing a bit to have a bit more performance, and mindful of the fact that FP2 could be the only dry session we were trying to explore some dry set-up for more qualifying performance.
“We were having a car balance that was towards oversteer, and we had a bit of that, and we had a bit of tailwind on the exit of Turn 9. At the fast corners 9/10, and 6/7, it’s perceived that the track is a tricky track.
“So far all drivers didn’t put a foot outside, but it has been one like that for Daniel which led to quite spectacular consequences.”
Abiteboul is not worried about this weekend's wet conditions. “I think we have a decent car, but still a car that’s missing a little bit of performance, in particular at a track like this one where the corners are very fast, so the effect of the wet means that the cornering speeds are lower, so we are less exposed to the weaknesses that we still have on our car.”
Abiteboul also explained that Ricciardo’s retirement due to overheating in last weekend’s race was a result of a cracked radiator. He is confident that the problem has been addressed after some urgent work in the UK factory.
“It was a very strange thing that never happened [before],” he noted. “It’s a small crack on the radiator, one of the coolers, which meant that we had a loss of pressure, and therefore the water temperature in the engine was starting to creep up. And we stopped the car in order to protect the engine really.
“What we’ve been able to do is the type of radiator magic that F1 is used to. We sent all the radiators to Enstone, we got them inspected, x-rayed, every single one of them, and shipped them back in time – no quarantine for them. We should be fine in that area.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article F1 "can’t get complacent" despite no positive COVID cases
Next article Styrian GP: Hamilton storms to pole in wild, wet qualifying
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Daniel Ricciardo
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
WEC
WEC 17 h
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
19 h
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Daniel Ricciardo shares heartfelt message after first Indy 500 visit brought back "childhood feelings"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Barcelona-Catalunya GP
Daniel Ricciardo shares heartfelt message after first Indy 500 visit brought back "childhood feelings"
Latest news
'My bike only works in a straight line,' says frustrated Francesco Bagnaia after Malaysian GP practice
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
8 min
'My bike only works in a straight line,' says frustrated Francesco Bagnaia after Malaysian GP practice
Audi pays tribute as F1 stalwart Beat Zehnder set for exit
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
39 min
Audi pays tribute as F1 stalwart Beat Zehnder set for exit
MotoGP Malaysian GP: Marc Marquez tops practice as Martin ends Friday early
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
1 h
MotoGP Malaysian GP: Marc Marquez tops practice as Martin ends Friday early
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe