F1 News: Monaco GP Winner Daniel Ricciardo Facing Grid Penalties In Canada

Daniel Ricciardo’s joy of winning the Monaco Grand Prix has turned into disappointment after learning that he will be subject to multiple grid penalties at the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Australian driver drove a magnificent race despite his car suffering a loss of power midway through the race to take Red Bull Racing’s and his second victory of the 2018 season.

Ricciardo got back into title contention with the win on the streets of the Principality and was hoping to carry his momentum into the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Red Bull have always been strong in Montreal — the scene of Ricciardo’s first ever F1 win in 2014 — and were hoping to again challenge Mercedes and Ferrari.

However, whatever Ricciardo does in qualifying on Saturday will be undone after Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey confirmed that the Australian will be subject to engine related penalties.

"Unfortunately, we will be taking penalties," Newey told Sky Sports News ahead of the race in Canada on Sunday.

The engine rule for the 2018 season was tightened with each driver only being allowed three engines for the entire 21-race campaign. There are six elements that make up the power unit and three of those — engine, turbo charger and MGU-H — can be used three times, while the MGU-K, control electronics and the energy store can only be replaced twice during the course of the season.

Ricciardo has used two engines thus far and is just one more change away from a penalty, but in terms of his battery and MGU-K, he is already at his limit and any change from this point onward will trigger an automatic grid penalty. The Australian’s car suffered severe power unit troubles in Monaco and his penalty in Canada will be dependent on the number of elements that need changing.

“We could be suffering some quite big penalties," Newey added. "We are only allowed two batteries etc and the system in that sense seems completely wrong."

The Australian, who will be out of contract at the end of this season, was hoping to close the gap to Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, who are one and two in the F1 Drivers’ championship race, but a grid penalty will severely hamper his chances of challenging the Mercedes and Ferrari duo.

Moreover, his championship rivals have not suffered reliability problems thus far and both Hamilton and Vettel are still on the power unit elements they started the season with in Australia.

The Canadian Grand Prix weekend gets underway Friday with the first and second free practice sessions scheduled at 10 a.m. EDT and 2 p.m. EDT respectively.

The third practice session will be held at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday followed by the qualifying session 2 p.m. EDT. The race will take place on Sunday at 2.10 p.m. EDT with live TV coverage being provided by ABC.