Ricciardo to start German GP last

Ricciardo to start German GP last

Joas van Wingerden

Friday 20 July 2018 11:53

Daniel Ricciardo will start the German Grand Prix from the back of the grid after Red Bull made a decision to change a glut of engine parts on his car. The change is likely made with an eye on next weeks' Hungarian Grand Prix, where the team will be expected to compete.

The high-speed nature of the Hockenheim circuit is likely to leave Ricciardo and Max Verstappen off the pace of Mercedes and Ferrari, explaining Red bull's choice.

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A blowout during the Chinese Grand Prix meant that Ricciardo was always likely to take a new engine out of sequence and prompt grid penalties.

Ricciardo is running with a new MGU-K, energy store and control electronics, with the penalties adding up to a 20-place grid drop - ensuring Ricciardo will start Sunday's race plum last regardless of qualifying performance.

Each driver is allowed to use just two of the components across the season - each has now been changed for the third time in 2018 by Ricciardo.

Red Bull are set to make a decision over whether to install a fresh internal combustion engine, MGU-H or turbo, team principal Christian Horner confirmed to Motorsport.

It's a sunglasses on kind of day at the Hockenheimring ???????? #GermanGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/mMzok4tjoP — Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 20, 2018