FIA announce penalty verdict after Ricciardo incident at Zandvoort

The FIA has announced the outcome of their investigation after a pit lane incident between Daniel Ricciardo and Zhou Guanyu in FP2 at the Dutch Grand Prix.

F1 returned to track action for the first time on Friday after a lengthy summer break, but neither of the two practice sessions in Zandvoort were without drama.

READ MORE: Weather causes CHAOS at Zandvoort as Verstappen spins

After FP1 was heavily affected by rain and wind, in FP2, there was a red flag, with Haas' Nico Hulkenberg crashing into the barrier after locking up and flying into the gravel at turn one.

Ferrari also faced a setback in the same session, with Carlos Sainz being forced to retire with a gearbox issue, hindering the rest of their weekend with a lack of dry running data.

READ MORE: Session RED FLAGGED as Verstappen struggles

FIA announces Ricciardo and Zhou penalty verdict

Of course, that was not all, with Sauber driver Guanyu Zhou also put under investigation for an unsafe release into the path of Visa Cash App RB's Daniel Ricciardo.

After the session, the FIA confirmed that Zhou's release was indeed worthy of a punishment, with the Chinese driver and his team deemed to have breached Article 34.14 a) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

As a result, Sauber were fined €5,000, with the following explanation given.

"Car 24 was released from the pit stop station into the path of Car 3 and the driver of Car 3 had to brake to avoid a collision,"

"The Stewards note that the mistake was made by the team and not the driver. Therefore, consistent with prior decisions, a fine to the team is imposed."

Ricciardo went on to qualify P16 in Saturday's qualifying session, with Zhou finishing even worse in P19.

READ MORE: Hamilton snubbed as AMERICAN F1 star named sexiest driver

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