Spectacular failure leaves Ricciardo under pressure

Daniel Ricciardo's third practice session ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix was ended prematurely after a suspected turbo failure left his Red Bull flaming and smoking. The team will have work to do in order to get the car ready for Saturday's qualifying.

Ricciardo remains without a clean weekend in 2018 after a grid penalty in Australia was followed by a total shut-down after just one lap in Bahrain.

Red Bull continue to deliver promising performance at weekends, but Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are yet to put it all together so far.

FP3 agony for @danielricciardo ???? #ChineseGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/lI1DQCv6W2 — Formula 1 (@F1) April 14, 2018

"We've got a suspected turbo failure, that's what the analysis is at the moment," team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports.

"Whether it's damaged the combustion engine as well, only time will tell. It certainly looks turbo orientated at the moment.

"The amount of time we've changed these engines, we've had plenty of practice. The guys are pretty well averse to it.

"It's the second race in a row. We had an energy store [problem] last race and we've got this issue here before we've even got into qualifying and we're on race three. Disappointed is probably an understatement.

"The failure we had last weekend has been seen previously and in pre-season on other cars as well. This failure today? Let's get the analysis, understand what it is fully – there will be plenty of information on it I'm sure.

"I feel for the guys on that side of the garage. But they'll bounce back and we'll be ready for quali."