BREAKING: Ricciardo Hit with Grid Penalty for Speeding under the Red Flag!

Daniel Ricciardo has had a nightmare start to his home Grand Prix weekend and he has been handed a three-place grid penalty for this weekend’s race in Melbourne.

The Aussie was on a quick lap in FP2 when the red flag came out for debris on the start-finish straight, and although he did slow down, he completed his lap too quickly.

An error on Ricciardo’s dashboard showed that he had slowed down enough, and the stewards agreed that he had slowed down significantly after the flag came out.

This is the reason Ricciardo has only been handed a three-place penalty rather than the typical five place grid penalty.

He was also given two penalty points on his licence.

A statement by race stewards said: “Article 31.6 was added this year to ensure that drivers reduce speed sufficiently during a red flag.

“Breach of this regulation is seen to be an extremely serious matter. However in this case, the stewards thoroughly reviewed the breach and found that the driver slowed significantly, such that no danger was created and that the driver proceeded with due care.

“The stewards are therefore imposing a lesser penalty than usual, and impose a three-place grid penalty and two penalty points.”