Ricciardo sees funny side of Brazil penalty

Ricciardo sees funny side of Brazil penalty

Joas van Wingerden

Saturday 10 November 2018 12:50

Daniel Ricciardo says he is able to see the funny side of his Brazilian Grand Prix fate after a marshal's actions in Mexico last time out left him facing a grid penalty at Interlagos. Ricciardo will take a five-place penalty for changing his turbocharger in Brazil.

The change was necessary after a marshal sprayed extinguishant up his Red Bull's exhaust in Mexico following his clutch failure and DNF.

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Team principal Christian Horner held no blame towards the marshal – Ricciardo's car had been on fire at the time – and the Australian himself is confident of undoing the damage on raceday.

"I got a phone call last week notifying me of what happened when we broke down in Mexico," he said. "I think the marshals put extinguisher straight up the exhaust and went to town on it and damaged the turbo.

"I'd kind of got over it that week and then I got that call and I was like 'ah well, it is what it is'.

"I can laugh about it now, because it has just been the trend lately. What do you do? It's out of my control. We'll just try to make the best of the weekend.

"Obviously I've had a few days to digest that now, so I've come to terms with it. I'll just try to qualify well like I did in Mexico and try and race hard.

"We had a good car this afternoon in the long run, so that gives me confidence to race well on Sunday."

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