Daniel Ricciardo cops cruel blow after disastrous Miami Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo had another race to forget at the Miami Grand Prix and the Aussie’s disastrous day got even worse after the race.

McLaren's Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo prior to the Miami Formula One Grand Prix at the Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, Florida, on May 8, 2022. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

Another race, another finish out of the points for Daniel Ricciardo, who just can’t take a trick at the moment.

The Australian finished 13th at the Miami Grand Prix on Monday morning (AEST) to continue his underwhelming start to the F1 season.

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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the race to further cut into the championship lead of Charles Leclerc, who finished second ahead of his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz.

Ricciardo started 14th on the grid after his qualifying disaster on Sunday and made up two places on the opening lap, but it all went downhill after that.

His troubles started early on when he dropped several places before settling into the race in the midfield outside of the championship-points standings.

A tactical blunder to keep him out on the track instead of pitting only made it much worse.

He was the last of the drivers to pit for the first time on lap 32 of the 57-lap race and he put on hard tyres like the rest of the field in the hope of running through to the end of the race.

Martin Brundle said on Sky Sports: “It’s not been McLaren’s best weekend. They just haven’t had the pace on this track”.

McLaren’s tyre strategy for Daniel Ricciardo was questionable. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Simone Lazenby said of the pit stop strategy: “All McLaren did was drop him back.

“Sadly, another race for Daniel Ricciardo to forget”.

The tyre experiment didn’t work and Ricciardo crossed the finish line in 11th, but his misery didn’t end there.

Minutes after the race ended, officials handed Ricciardo a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, meaning he dropped to P13 behind Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda.

The cruel penalty rubbed salt in the wound for Ricciardo, who can only take solace from the fact he finished in front of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who crashed out of the race.