Renault's Daniel Ricciardo has been officially disqualified from Saturday's Qualifying session which saw him finish eighth. However, after a breach in the Australian's MGU-K deployment system, a stewards investigation was launched and eventually deemed him disqualified.
The breach in question was over Ricciardo's MGU-K exceeding the power limit of 120kW in Q1 of yesterdays Qualifying session. Renault have released this statement, "Renault F1 Team acknowledge the decision from FIA stewards to disqualify Daniel Ricciardo from the Qualifying Session of the Singapore Grand Prix, after he benefitted from an advantage measured at one-microsecond due to a kerb hit that caused his MGU-K to over rev on his slowest lap of Q1. The decision will therefore not be appealed."
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Daniel Ricciardo also spoke out about the stewards decision, "They've (the stewards) ruined it for them (the fans) and they've ruined it for me. They've done the right things on track, but this should have been treated like a track limit, the lap time should have been deleted, not the whole qualifying, it wasn't even on my fast lap. Qualifying is everything here... I've been stitched with that one."
On the one hand, Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsports, every team strives for greatness pushing limits. But this is a limit that can't be exceeded, much like Mercedes cooling their fuel to 1 degree over the limit and thus, were fined 5000 euros in Free Practise Three. However, many could agree with Ricciardo, should his lap time just have been deleter? After all, as Renault have stated it only boosted one-microsecond...
Yet, in these circumstances, the disqualified driver usually is unable to run in the Sunday Grand Prix, however, the stewards have allowed Daniel Ricciardo to start from the Pitlane. Unfortunately for the Australian, track position around Singapore is vital, but with a 100% record of a safety car what can the thirty year old do around the Singapore streets?
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