Canadian Grand Prix – Monaco Grand Prix race-winner Daniel Ricciardo had his practice day set back by an electronics issue.
The Australian spent the majority of free practice two in the pits as the Red Bull mechanics worked to solve a power-related issue, which ended up being related to the car’s electronics.
He managed to rejoin the track to complete a qualifying simulation, which was good enough for third place, but his race simulations were hampered as a result of the issue.
It remains to be seen if the Red Bull driver has a ten-place grid penalty for a change of MGU-K, the part which failed during his Monaco Grand Prix win.
“We didn’t have the smoothest day and we had what looks like an electrical problem with the engine,” confirmed Ricciardo. “We had some problems this morning which they tried to fix during lunch, but it didn’t improve so we had to try and fix them this afternoon.
“The problem doesn’t look related to the issue in Monaco or anything that could cause a penalty. We have the upgraded engine this weekend and I think there are still a few things to be configured on that front.
“We managed to get a few laps in at the end of FP3 and I did enough to feel what the car was like. We learned a bit and I know the direction I want to go set-up wise.
“A bit frustrating to not get too many laps in but hopefully tomorrow will be issue-free and we will make more progress.”
Ricciardo played down the pace of Red Bull this weekend, adding that he believed Mercedes are the favourites in this weekend’s race.
“In my opinion Mercedes look really strong, the time they did on the ultrasoft was quick and on the hypersoft I think they would have been doing 1m11s. It’s positive that Max’s pace is good, so hopefully we can have a better day tomorrow.”
