Daniel Ricciardo believes stewards at the Singapore Grand Prix “ruined my weekend” in the wake of his exclusion from qualifying, which impacted on his race.
Ricciardo had qualified in eighth position but a power surge from his MGU-K was detected during Q1, and he was disqualified.
Renault later confirmed that the lap time gain from the unexpected surge, caused by a kerb hit, was a microsecond.
Ricciardo was involved with a clash with Antonio Giovinazzi in the race and classified 14th, and was left frustrated at his Saturday sanction.
“If that is something that is happening consistently through the session, I’d understand,” said Ricciardo when asked by Motorsport Week on his reaction. “If every lap I’m getting a micro second gain, then I’d understand, ok eliminate me from the session.
“But it happened on one occurrence for one milli-second on one lap. And the lap did not affect my qualifying. Delete that lap.
“We have the track limit rule, if you gain an advantage then that lap is deleted.
“So it seems very simple to do that. They didn’t feel the need.
“I have some strong words for them, but I’ll leave that…but I think you know what I feel. They ruined my weekend. A 12-hour flight return, I feel was bit for nothing. So maybe they will pay for my seat on the way home tomorrow.”
Speaking further on how he digested the development, Ricciardo said: “It affected my sleep heavily. I was frustrated.
“Just being honest now, it is hard to then switch off because you have so many scenarios running through your head.
“A lot of anger, and you feel hard done by because I’ve never pissed off anyone there personally. I don’t have a grudge on anyone. I’d think just a bit of common sense would prevail.
“I’m running through all these scenarios in my head while I’m in bed trying to sleep. And therefore it is a bit of a restless night.”
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