Ricciardo handed three-place grid penalty for impeding Ocon

Daniel Ricciardo was unsurprisingly hit with a three-place grid penalty by the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix stewards for impeding Alpine's Esteban Ocon in qualifying.

Ocon was on a flyer in Q2 when he stumbled upon the slow-moving Ricciardo at Jeddah's Turn 9 and was forced to abandon his lap.

The Aussie later argued that the McLaren pitwall had not informed him of Ocon's oncoming presence and that by the time he saw the Alpine in his mirrors, "it was too late".

• Read also: Schumacher ruled out of Saudi Arabian GP after huge crash

The stewards levied a three-place grid penalty that demoted Ricciardo from P12 to P15. However, as Haas' Mick Schumacher has been ruled out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the McLaren driver should line up 14th on the Sunday's grid.

“It was clear that Car 31 was unnecessarily impeded by Car 3," read the stewards' report.

"The fact that Car 31 was ultimately able to record a faster lap is irrelevant to the fact that the infringement occurred, such that a timed lap had to be aborted.

"It was also clear that the team failed in its duty to keep the driver of Car 3 properly informed of approaching cars. This is particularly so given the tight nature of this circuit."

The McLaren outfit was also fined €10,000 by the FIA for failing to inform its driver.

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