Ecstasy to agony for Ricciardo: local hero stripped of second place for rule breach

DANIEL Ricciardo’s celebrations after becoming the first homegrown driver to reach the podium at the Australian Grand Prix have been crushed.

DANIEL Ricciardo’s celebrations as the first homegrown driver to reach the podium at the Formula One Australian Grand Prix yesterday were abruptly crushed when he was disqualified last night.

A late-night stewards inquiry ruled that he had broken tough new rules on fuel consumption during his cannonball run into second place at the dramatic F1 event at Albert Park in Melbourne.

Having sparked scenes of wild celebration among fans at Melbourne’s lakeside circuit, Ricciardo spent about two hours revelling with his Red Bull team after his second behind Mercedes-Benz’s Nico Rosberg of Germany, before learning of the inquiry.

The technical delegate for the motorsport supervisory body FIA, Jo Bauer, reported that Ricciardo’s car had “exceeded consistently the maximum allowed fuel flow of 100kg/h”.

Bauer said “as this is not in compliance with Article 5.1.4 of the 2014 Formula One technical regulations, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration”.

Under new regulations introduced this season, a driver’s engine is not allowed to consume fuel at a peak rate of higher than 100 kilograms an hour.

Ricciardo was in trouble the moment the hearing was called.

Race director Charlie Whiting had been emphatic in stating there would be a zero-tolerance policy towards breaches of the rule. “The 100kg is the maximum and, if they go over, they have exceeded the limit and there is no tolerance,” Whiting said.

Red Bull appealed against the decision, questioning the accuracy of the findings.

The appeal failed and the West Australian’s punishment was confirmed shortly before midnight.

“We are confident of the fuel-flow measuring meter’s accuracy,” Whiting had said on the eve of the race.

“It will always be correlated with data we have from injectors to make sure there is not a wide divergence, but from what we have seen so far that will not be the case.

“Technical checks get made for two-and-a-half hours after the race. Any one of those checks could mean disqualification.”

There used to be unlimited fuel allowances. Upwards of 160kg of gas would be consumed per hour. Now a car is limited to 100kg.

Ricciardo left Albert Park saying the first race of the F1 season still contained more positives than negatives ahead of the next stop on the championship tour in Malaysia in a fortnight.

It was a cruel finish to what had seemed the near-perfect day for Ricciardo.

On arrival at Albert Park, he slipped out of his courtesy car, signed the obligatory autographs for the revheads howling his name, flashed his security pass, strutted through the Albert Park paddock like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, darted into the Red Bull garage, slipped into his astronaut-style racing suit, listened to his hard-rock music on oversized headphones, squeezed into his work cubicle/cockpit, launched himself into the race and endeavoured to play his game of automotive chess at 300km/h.

He became the first Australian to stand on the podium at the home GP after Rosberg took the chequered flag, holding his nerve when the McLarens tried to hunt him down and shove him off the podium in the final nerve-shredding laps.

Bedlam in the grandstands followed. A full-throated, growling ovation. Ricciardo’s first words: “Aw, yeah!” Australia’s former F1 world champion Alan Jones told him on the podium: “You’ve done us proud.”

The disqualification capped a horror day for Red Bull. Ricciardo’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel was forced to pull out.

Were Ricciardo and defending world champion Vettel of Germany friends or foes?, it was asked earlier. “Competitors,” Ricciardo said. Professional relationship? “Professional is the right word for it.” They sat in vintage cars for a pre-race lap of the circuit. There was a meet and greet with spectators before the day turned to pot for them and others.

At the beginning of the race Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi hit Williams’s Felipe Massa from behind.

They careered out of control, failing to negotiate the opening turn, skidding into the gravel. Massa fumed: “Every time he tries to do a stunt like that, he will crash.”

Rosberg had started from third spot on the grid but took the lead by the first turn and was never headed in the season-opener at the Albert Park circuit. His Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Vettel sensationally retired early in the race.

Rosberg zipped around Hamilton and led throughout.

After two laps, Hamilton was told to retire. He refused, told on the radio: “Okay Lewis, stay out, stay out, keep it rolling.”

Vettel was clunking around, furious, on his way to losing for the first time since his July. “It’s not running smoothly,” he complained. “This is ridiculous, guys.” He punched the air with frustration.

But Ricciardo stayed on Rosberg’s tail.

Ricciardo was five seconds behind for the first dozen laps. The gap increased: The Merc was the superior vehicle.

Out in the paddock, out in millionaire’s row, Vettel was livid. What happened on the fifth lap? “Did I make five laps?” Apparently.

“We lost power,” he said. “Basically, we had no power from the start. Big problem with the engine. You lose even more power, you have to stop.”

Hamilton shrugged: “I was driving on five cylinders. Disappointing. But that’s racing.”

Rosberg’s 302.271 kilometres took one hour 32 minutes 58.710 seconds at an average speed of 195.059 km/h. Ricciardo finished 24.525 seconds behind and Denmark’s Kevin Magnussen third, 26.777 behind in a McLaren.

Ricciardo was ecstatic before officialdom intervened. “An unbelievable day,” he said before his heart was ripped out.

“It’s been crazy. The support has been overwhelming. No words. All the attention has been a bit embarrassing. Everyone seems to know who I am now, and it’s something I have to get used to. It’s embarrassing to see your face on billboards, but it’s all positive. The first Australian on the podium, it’s pretty nice. A bit surreal. Tomorrow it will sink in.”

A rock star’s reception on his way out. “If there’s any doubts about the Oz Grand Prix lasting, people have put an end to that here,” he said.

“I’m pleased to have been part of that. There was a lot of guessing with the conserving of fuel, but we survived. We got there.”

He thought he had got there. He thought wrong, as of last night.

For Rosberg, victory came almost three decades after his father Keke won Australia’s inaugural F1 event in Adelaide in 1985.