Daniel Ricciardo in action
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo will have just three penalty-free engines to complete the 2015 season with after it emerged that the Renault unit which failed in Melbourne practice cannot be repaired.
Ricciardo was forced to sit out Practice Two at the season-opening Australian GP on Friday after the team’s mechanics detected a power unit problem and were forced to change the internal combustion engine.
Although the team were initially confident that the engine could be repaired, Christian Horner confirmed to Sky Sports F1 at the start of Practice Three that the unit couldn’t be salvaged and now would be taken out of service.
“It is not helpful losing an engine after five laps, so that is one of his four he is down on the combustion side," the team principal said. "But it is what it is, it is the hand we have been dealt and hopefully the new unit won’t have a repeat failure.”
The loss of the engine represents an early blow to Ricciardo and Red Bull's seasons given that under the 2015 regulations drivers now only have access to four penalty-free engines for the 20-race campaign, one less than last season.
It therefore makes it almost inevitable that Ricciardo will take a penalty for a fifth engine earlier than expected during the course of the season, which would trigger an automatic 10-place grid drop.
Horner thinks it was optimistic to expect teams to manage 20 races on just four engines and thinks it could affect running during practice sessions.
“I think the bigger issue is going to be the lack of running yesterday. As mileage gets tigther teams are going to be more frugal, particularly on a Friday morning.
“To be honest it is a stupid situation and a situation I argued about to no avail last year. We take a fifth engine on a world tour anyway, why not just use it for Friday’s. It is stupid coming all this way then sitting in a garage and not running out on track.
"But that is what the team in silver wanted - and not the one with the Japanese engines."
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