F1 | Ricciardo: a clutch problem caused the jump start

One of the penalties that went almost unnoticed in Montreal was the five-second penalty awarded to Daniel Ricciardo for an infringement at the start. The Australian started from an excellent fifth place achieved on Saturday, thus putting him in a position to be in full fight for a good result in the race too, with the aim of the points zone as the main target.

However, the early start, almost imperceptible from the outside and visible only when looking at the onboard camera, had an impact on Ricciardo’s race, who then finished in eighth place also taking advantage of an error by teammate Yuki Tsunoda in the final part of the Grand Prix.

The movement before the lights went out was minimal, but still enough for the stewards to decide to give him a penalty. However, there are 3 different interesting aspects in this question that deserve further investigation.

The error on departure caused by a technical problem

At the end of the race, speaking about the reasons that led to his sanction, Ricciardo explained that he had not realized that the car was moving before the traffic lights went out, precisely because the movement was minimal, except for a small sensation at which he hadn’t given much weight to.

“I received a penalty for jumping the start, but I was a bit confused because I knew I had moved before the lights went out, but then I remembered that at the start I felt that perhaps the car was moving,” said the driver of the Racing Bulls.

“We had a small problem with the car and we will look into it, but obviously this had an impact on our race,” added Ricciardo, who had already been told via radio during the race that the penalty had not arisen due to a his mistake in the procedure, but rather due to a technical problem recorded by the team on the car.

Speaking after the race about the result of the Faenza team, the Team Principal confirmed that what affected Ricciardo’s race was precisely a technical failure linked to the functioning of the clutch which allowed a slight movement of the car, despite the fact that the Australian had followed the procedure correctly. “Daniel’s penalty at the start was caused by a slight dragging of the clutch,” ruled Mekies.

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

A version also confirmed by Guillaume Dezoteux, responsible for the car’s performance: “Daniel started by receiving a penalty because he moved slightly on the starting grid before the traffic lights went out. He followed the procedure correctly, it seems that the car is to blame, probably a slight drag of the clutch which pushed the car forward a few centimetres”.

The rules have changed

Ricciardo was seventh when he served the penalty on lap 26, during the first Safety Car period. The sanction caused him to fall to tenth place at the restart, although two drivers would have passed him anyway by not stopping in the pits to fit a new set of intermediates, namely Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon. Taking advantage of the episodes at the end, the Racing Bulls representative still managed to bring home a good eighth place.

However, another interesting aspect of this story is that the Australian is the first driver to be affected by the new regulations on departure infringements introduced at the end of April. Going back a few months, Lando Norris had been accused by some rivals of having made a jump start in the Saudi Arabian GP, ​​when his car had moved before the traffic lights went out, a moment in which the drivers could actually start. However, the Briton was not sanctioned because the FIA ​​transponder had not revealed any movement, although it was evident from the cameras positioned on board.

Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Previously, the regulation underlined that only the FIA ​​transponder could indicate a possible jump start by a car, which is why stewards had to rely exclusively on the data provided by the sensor. Clearly, Norris’ case has reopened the question.

For this reason, with the latest revision of the regulations, the stewards were given the possibility of establishing whether a car moved too soon, even if the movement was not recognized by the transponder, as in Ricciardo’s case. In fact, the stewards only needed to observe the movement after the fourth traffic light was turned on to trigger the punishment.

This year the scope of penalties has tended to be increased compared to previous seasons, which is why it was surprising that the penalty was only five seconds. Explaining the reasons that led to the assignment of the penalty, the commissioners took into account that, in fact, the movement was very limited and that Ricciardo did not gain any competitive advantage from what happened.

“Car 3 moved after the 4-second light came on and before the start signal was given in violation of Article 48.1. The Stewards recognize that the movement was very slight and that no sporting advantage was obtained and therefore impose the least severe penalty applicable to such infringement,” reads the press release.