Ricciardo falls to 11th with two French GP penalties

Paris, June 24: Daniel Ricciardo was hit with two five-second time penalties after leaving the track at the French Grand Prix won by Lewis Hamilton, falling to 11th despite a seventh-placed finish.

The Renault driver ended the weekend without any points due to a pair of manoeuvres that had contributed to a strong finish.

Ricciardo forced Lando Norris into evasive action late in the race as he returned to the track after running wide, before he crossed the white lines to overtake Kimi Raikkonen.

Race stewards deemed the first incident constituted "unsafely forcing another driver off track", earning a five-second penalty and two penalty points on his superlicense.

With the move on Raikkonen, Ricciardo was deemed to have "left the track and gained a lasting advantage". He was again punished with a five-second penalty.

The 10 additional seconds saw Ricciardo fall to 11th, behind Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg, Norris and Pierre Gasly.

No regrets. I tried. Would rather that than sit back without a heart.

— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) June 23, 2019

Speaking ahead of the sanction, the Australian claimed he did not care for any penalties.

"When the track's so wide, you've got to improvise a little. It was a fun last lap," he said.

"To be honest, whatever happens, I don't really care. I think it was fun and it's better to have a fight and see what happens than to just sit behind and be a loser, so yeah, I enjoyed it."