Ricciardo given grid penalty for blocking Ocon

Daniel Ricciardo has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after being found guilty of blocking Esteban Ocon in qualifying.

The stewards at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit imposed the penalty for an incident at Turn 9 in Q2 which also earned the Australian one penalty point on his super-licence and a fine of 10,000 euros for the McLaren team.

McLaren were found culpable as they had not informed Ricciardo that Ocon was coming up behind him on a ‘hot’ lap – a situation exacerbated by the nature of a track where the 27 corners come thick and fast.

The grid ahead of Sunday's race

*factoring in Daniel Ricciardo's three-place grid penalty#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/q9SERHbm2w

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The statement announcing the verdict read: “The stewards heard from the driver of Car 3 (Ricciardo), the driver of Car 31 (Ocon) and team representatives, and examined video and team radio evidence and found Car 3 impeded Car 31.

“The driver admitted he did not know Car 31 was coming on a fast lap as he was not told of that by his team. By the time he saw Car 31 approaching, it was too late. The team representative admitted they had made an error in not warning their driver about Car 31 approaching.

“The driver of Car 31 stated his lap had to be aborted as a result of him being unnecessarily impeded by Car 3. Having said that, he stated his overall performance during the session was not adversely impacted by the aborted lap.

“It was clear Car 31 was unnecessarily impeded by Car 3. The fact Car 31 was ultimately able to record a faster lap is irrelevant to the fact the infringement occurred, such that a timed lap had to be aborted.

“It was also clear the team failed in its duty to