Daniel Ricciardo gets grid penalty
The Australian Grand Prix jinx has struck again for Danny Ric as he is handed a three-place grid penalty for his home race for going too fast during red flag conditions, the Stewards have also gave the Australian two penalty points on his license, the breach occurred during the second practice session at Albert Park and Ricciardo has admitted the error claiming he read his dashboard display wrong. "The Stewards thoroughly reviewed the breach and found that the driver slowed significantly, such that no danger was created, and that the driver proceeded with due care, the Stewards therefore are imposing a lesser penalty than usual, and impose a three grid place penalty and two penalty points" they said in a statement.
Danny Ric hasn't had the best of luck at the Aussie GP, in 2014 he finished second in his debut race for Red Bull but was disqualified soon after for a mechanical infringement that was no fault of his own. He just missed out on a maiden podium for a home driver in 2016 when he finished fourth, while last year he crashed in qualifying started from the pitlane and then retired midway through the race.
Review of P1 and P2
Formula 1 returned to official action on Friday with the opening pair of practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park street circuit. Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton, a six-time pole sitter and two-time winner of the event, began proceedings on top in FP1, and followed it up with another pacesetting effort in FP2.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen emerged as his closest challenger over one-lap, 0.127 seconds adrift, but has pinpointed his hopes on the forecast wet weather arriving on Saturday. That could throw a curveball into the equation, with both of Friday’s sessions having taken place in warm and sunny conditions. Whatever happens, though, Daniel Ricciardo will not be starting from the front of the grid, in a blow to the hopes of the home fans. Ricciardo will drop three places from wherever he qualifies due to a breach of the red flag regulations during second practice.
Ferrari was a subdued fourth and fifth overall, but Sebastian Vettel remained calm about his half-second deficit, insisting that there is still pace to come. Pre-season testing suggested that Haas was one to keep an eye on, and Romain Grosjean delivered in FP2, placing sixth, just seven-tenths behind Hamilton. Haas has form in Melbourne, taking sixth on its debut in 2016, a result Grosjean repeated across one-lap 12 months ago, before retiring in the race. Grosjean held a gap of half a second back to nearest midfield opponent Fernando Alonso, as just 0.774s separated the Spaniard from Williams debutant Sergey Sirotkin, in 18th. That gap covered both representatives from McLaren which recovered track time after initial exhaust problems Renault, Force India, Toro Rosso and Williams, along with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. Sauber finished comfortably at the rear, its eight-tenths deficit to Sirotkin more than the gap that covers the bulk of the midfield group which it aspires to join.
Force India no name change this season
According to Otmar Szafnauer Chief Operating Officer of Force India, there will be no name change before next season. If reports are to be believed they ran out of time, with both the FIA and FOM telling them they had left it too late. You can't change the name during the season and any change needs to be approved by the world motorsport council. So it looks like they will have to wait until the end of the season to make any such change.
On track they didn't do so well today in practice with Sergio Perez 12th and Esteban Ocon 15th, this could be down to the fact that they have brought so many new parts to the car that they didn't use in testing.
Couple of changes for the Australian Grand
Starting lights
The FIA will try a new starting light arrangement for the 2018 Australian Grand Prix this weekend. This decision has been made after fears were raised about potential visibility issues for drivers caused by the halo device. The new halo cockpit protection has brought about concerns that drivers at the front of the grid may not be able to see the normal start lights. FIA race director Charlie Whiting has fitted a second set of lights five meters behind the main lights off to the left of the track at a lower height. In previous years the second set of lights had been situated hallway down the grid, but these are thought to have been removed.
3 DRS zones
The FIA has added a third DRS zone to the Australian Grand Prix circuit in an effort to boost overtaking in Sunday's opening race of the 2018 Formula 1 season. Melbourne's Albert Park track previously featured a single DRS detection zone 13 metres before Turn 14, three corners from the end of the lap. This triggered DRS activation points at the exit of Turn 16 onto the start-finish straight and again at the exit of Turn 2. A second detection point has now been added on the kink that leads to the Turn 11-12 esses making it the first time an F1 track will have three DRS zones. The new zone will begin on the exit of that Turn 11-12 complex, potentially allowing drivers to drag past rivals on the run to the tight right at Turn 13. The main reason for this extra zone is to help drivers get closer to the car in front heading to the original DRS detection point that follows before Turn 14 which leads into the final two corners. This should encourage more use of the DRS zones that follow. The change comes after Australian GP chiefs made a bold bid to redesign the back part of the Albert Park circuit to promote overtaking (the Australian Grand Prix Corporation investigated replacing the fast Turn 11-12 complex with a longer straight and a tight left hander, but to date haven't changed it).
