Red Bull team boss Christian Horner revealed a marshal at the Mexican Grand Prix inadvertently caused the problem which led to Daniel Ricciardo needing a new turbo for the Brazilian GP.
The Australian will drop five places at Interlagos as his dismal run of luck continues and the latest setback to his bid for a strong end to life at Milton Keynes couldn’t have come about in more freakish circumstances.
“You can’t really blame them as the car was obviously smoking but they shot foam up the exhaust and as it solidifies in the turbo it terminated it,” Horner told Sky Sports. “He’ll take a five-place penalty but hopefully on a track like this it is not actually that big of a penalty.”
The hydraulics problem in Mexico saw Ricciardo retire for an eighth time in 2018, the most of any driver, and came as he was on course for just his third podium of the season following wins in China and Monaco.
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After the last race, the 29-year-old even suggested there was no point in racing his “cursed” Red Bull car in Brazil and Abu Dhabi before later recanting, even seeing the funny side of his Sao Paulo penalty.
“I got a call last week and the team made me aware of it,” Ricciardo said. “I can laugh about it now because it has just been the trend lately. What do you do? It’s out of my control. We’ll just try to make the best of the weekend.
“Obviously I’ve had a few days to digest that now, so I’ve come to terms with it. I’ll just try to qualify well like I did in Mexico and try and race hard.
“We had a good car this afternoon in the long run, so that gives me confidence to race well on Sunday.”
