Daniel Ricciardo suggests a clutch issue could be to blame for fault start penalty

Daniel Ricciardo suggests clutch could be the cause of a fault start after he was seen creeping slightly while the lights were red, costing him a five second penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo suggests a clutch issue was the cause of the false start penalty he picked up in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo served a five-second time penalty at his first stop in Sunday’s race after he was judged to have made a ‘false start’.

The Australian was seen creeping slightly while the lights were red, and while it didn’t offer him any advantage, it was a breach of the regulations.

“Car 3 moved after the 4 second light was illuminated and before the start signal was given, this being a breach of Article 48.1,” officials noted in their report into the incident.

Ricciardo had a comparatively poor start, dropping positions after starting fifth on the grid.

He was on the outside of Turn 2, which allowed Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso to pass the RB.

“The start itself, we were drift city,” Ricciardo explained.

“I say the start, also just around Turn 1 I remember Lewis just literally breezing by me and I was Tokyo-ing it.

Daniel comes in for a new set of intermediates and completes his 5 second penalty.

He rejoins P10 as we wait for this safety car to end ⏳ pic.twitter.com/CGiC50yqgH

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“And then I got told we had a penalty. I was quite confused because I knew I didn’t jump the lights but I recall maybe the car was creeping when I was looking at the lights.

“So I guess we had probably a clutch issue, would be my guess.”

Ricciardo spent much of the opening stint seventh, dropping briefly to eighth behind the wet-shod Haas entries of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen as they carved through the field in the opening laps.

Following his stop on Lap 26, Ricciardo slipped to 10th, losing a place to Esteban Ocon who didn’t pit until Lap 44 to run 11th.

From there, he recovered to eighth at the flag, passing Ocon and benefiting from the retirements of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon in the later stages.

“When the rain was coming, we pitted for a new inter and the others stayed out, and we just lost track position there,” Ricciardo noted.

“I felt like the race was kind of getting away from us, but then with the slick at the end, we managed to claw our way back past some cars and get, fortunately, a nice little bag of points.

“So all in all, happy,” he added.

Calamity upon calamity 💥😖

Perez, Sainz and Albon (unluckily) all succumb to the slippery conditions #F1#CanadianGPpic.twitter.com/RQpwK3X8bR

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 9, 2024

“These races, it’s hard to be perfect. I made mistakes, obviously, we were just trying to survive at times, so happy we got there in the end.”

While pleased with the outcome of the race, perhaps of greater importance was how the weekend unfolded.

“It’s the first weekend I’ve got well, start to finish,” he reasoned.

“Obviously Miami, half of it was really good and the other half not so, so it’s nice to just be competitive from Friday through Sunday.

“And a race like this, it’s so hard, mentally and everything. It is draining.

“You can’t expect to do a perfect race when it’s like this, but I felt like in all these conditions, we managed to still pull out a result – with a few challenges along the way.”

Daniel Ricciardo focus is to back up his points winning finish at the Canadian Grand Prix. Picture: Rudy Carezzevoli / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

The focus now will be on backing up the Canadian GP weekend as the Australian, by his own admission, has struggled for consistency in 2024.

“I think that little energy, probably a little bit of a chip on my shoulder I brought into the weekend, I’ve got to make sure that stays there and just keep that level of intensity,” he explained.

“I don’t know if I need to be a bit angry or just get my testosterone up, but I think it helps me.”

In finishing eighth, Ricciardo scored four points in Montreal, taking his season tally on to nine.

That leaves RB on 28 and in a clear sixth in the constructors’ championship following a weekend when teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished outside the points in 14th.

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Originally published as Daniel Ricciardo suggests a clutch issue could be to blame for fault start penalty