Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that he’ll soon face an engine penalty after using his third power unit this weekend in China.
Renault has struggled for reliability this season and suffered a poor weekend with both Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen’s races ending with power unit failures.
Whilst Ricciardo was able to finish the race, he had to use a third engine this weekend and, with drivers limited to just four before incurring a penalty, the Australian admits it likely won’t be long until he’s slapped with one.
“We’re going to get copped with at least one,” he said. “We’ve already gone through two of the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), or whatever, so eventually we are going to have to serve penalties but hopefully the reliability improves.
“For my car today it was fine but obviously Daniil and Max went up in smoke so still some work to do but we’ve just got to keep our head up and keep pushing.”
Ricciardo finished ninth after suffering a terrible start which saw him drop from seventh to 17th on the opening lap where he had to battle his way through the pack.
“The start was obviously what shaped our race,” he added. “We got into anti-stall and I’m not sure why so I’ll have a look at that.
