Daniel Ricciardo bites back after controversial penalty in France

A furious Daniel Ricciardo was caught in controversy at the French Grand Prix, hitting back after two late penalties ruined his race.

Daniel Ricciardo was fuming.

Daniel Ricciardo has lashed out after being slapped with two time penalties and dropping from seventh to 11th following a dramatic end to the French Grand Prix.

The Aussie F1 star was handed two separate five-second penalties for rejoining the track dangerously and forcing Lando Norris off and overtaking Kimi Raikkonen after all four wheels left the track.

Related: F1 fans fume as Hamilton wins in France

Stewards completed an investigation into the incident and ruled Ricciardo’s unsafe re-entry onto the track in the final lap forced Norris off, and also determined the Renault driver was only able to overtake Raikkonen because he received an unfair advantage by going off the track.

The ruling means Ricciardo drops down four places in the finishing order and misses out on any points.

He took to Twitter afterwards to express his frustration. Originally, he tweeted: “No regrets. I tried. Would rather that than be a peasant and watch.”

He then deleted that and chose some different words, but although he was fuming, refrained from going all nuclear.

“No regrets. I tried. Would rather that than sit back without a heart,” he wrote.

“I am a threat of a twitter rant. But I’ll save it. Hope everyone was entertained.”

Ricciardo also spoke to the Renault website about his demotion.

“It’s clearly disappointing to drop outside the points with a post-race penalty, especially at the team’s home race. The last lap was a lot of fun, we had a fight and I enjoyed it,” he said.

“I’d rather give it a go than not try at all, and I’m sure the French fans and the people at home liked watching.

“It’s a shame to be penalised for it, but we’ll aim to move on from that as quickly as possible.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ricciardo’s day took a turn for the worse.

Norris was headed for seventh before the late drama. A heartbreaking final lap saw him drop from seventh to 10th after being struck by hydraulic problems.

Ricciardo, who started in eighth, was in a dogfight with Norris as the end approached. On the final lap, Ricciardo tried to go around the outside of the chicane with commentators suggesting he may have been in trouble with all four wheels off the track.

Drivers aren’t allowed to drive off the track to gain an advantage and Ricciardo found himself under investigation after he overtook Norris then later passed Raikkonen to end the day on what he thought was a high.

Post-race, Norris made it clear he thought Ricciardo may be in trouble and couldn’t hide his disappointment.

Aggghh

— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) June 23, 2019

WAS RICCIARDO DUDDED?

Hands up if you’re having a rough day.

Not everyone was certain Ricciado deserved to be punished.

“I’m not really sure how you argue it (giving Ricciardo a penalty),” Sky Sports commentator Paul di Resta said. “The big problem for me is the tracks that allow you to do that — the white line should be the white line, then there should be grass or something so you don’t go there, even a big kerb.

“There were a few moments in the race where a few people did that and they weren’t given penalties so I don’t know how they can give a penalty for that one.

“He did a good job Ricciardo, he gave us some excitement and that’s the big thing. It’s a sad loss when you see someone who’s actually making a move one the last lap and doing something but they’re going to pick something up probably.”

Many fans slammed the French GP as boring after Mercedes racked up another one-two finish and before Ricciardo knew if he’d be sanctioned, he had a cavalier attitude about the issue.

“To be honest, I care but I don’t care in terms of I’m glad I tried and had a crack,” Ricciardo said. “I was certainly trying to pull it off and keep it all on there so it was tight.

“I’m getting more comfortable with the car in racing conditions but still not quite where I was with the Red Bull. When I do break on the limit, I’m always just right on the limit of pulling the car up.

“But it was fun, the last few laps really came alive. Kimi was catching me, I was catching Lando and it all got pretty exciting. I heard that they didn’t even show it live on TV so that’s a bit of a joke. It was the only battle on track right.”

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RIVAL TAKES AIM

Sebastian Grosjean wasn’t too happy with Ricciardo.

Earlier in the race, Haas driver Romain Grosjean was unhappy with Ricciardo when the Aussie overtook him.

The Frenchman claimed Ricciardo’s re-entry onto the track wasn’t safe, forcing him to sit back and take a longer route.

“He rejoined the track very dangerously and I had to go round the outside,” Grosjean said over the radio.

Ricciardo wasn’t penalised for that move.