The penalty hangs over Daniel Ricciardo

Reliability problems encountered by V6 turbo/hybrid blocks Renault particularly hit the stable Red Bull and especially Daniel Ricciardo. We particularly remember the finish of the Bahrain Grand Prix, where the Australian crossed the line with an engine in agony. Mishaps which forced the RB11 driver, author of only 13 loops today, to use its fourth thermal engine in Spain, and which now place him under the threat of sanction in the event of use of a fifth element.

“We expected be limited in terms of mileage today, and we also knew that we would have to use the fourth engine for free practice 2, says Ricciardo. It would have been nice to complete a few more laps but we have enough to give us plenty of data to look at. Daniil had a clear session and we will also look at his data and try to learn a few things for tomorrow. There is a lot of potential with the updates and qualifying tomorrow is still what matters. »

Spared in EL2 by his mechanics, the Russian Kvyat climbed to 5th place behind the Mercedes and Ferrari.