Ricciardo accepts late season penalties

After a turbo problem with his engine in FP3 today, Daniel Ricciardo has accepted that he is likely to face engine penalties later in the season, especially after the rules on engines have been tightened for this season.

Teams are now only allowed to use three engines per car, compared to four for last year, and with today’s turbo issue and engine problems forcing retirement in Bahrain, it looks like Ricciardo will face some penalties in the latter part of the campaign.

This is another set back for Red Bull, who after pre-season testing were expected to mix it with Ferrari and Mercedes.

However, it has not quite worked out that way, with the team on only 20 points, way behind the two-aforementioned team, and even sitting two points behind the unfancied McLaren.

“It hasn’t been the cleanest start, especially after testing, testing we had a pretty good winter, we thought we were really on top of things,” Ricciardo said. “But obviously with Bahrain and then this morning, it’s a little bit of a shake-up.