Tuesday 11 December 2018 11:42, UK
Monaco GP victor Daniel Ricciardo will be hit with multiple grid penalties at the upcoming Canadian GP.
Two weeks after claiming victory in F1's showpiece event despite a crippling loss of power from his Renault engine, the Red Bull driver - third in the world championship behind Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel - is set to suffer a series of engine-related grid demotions in Montreal.
"Unfortunately, we will be taking penalties," Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey confirmed to Sky Sports News.
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With just a third of the season elapsed, Ricciardo has already used a significant chunk of his allowance for engine parts for the entire campaign with the size of his penalties in Canada this weekend set to be determined by just how many components will require changing after he guided his handicapped RB14 car to the chequered flag in Monaco.
"We could be suffering some quite big penalties," said Newey, who admitted Red Bull would have to set Ricciardo's car up for overtaking in Montreal.
"We are only allowed two batteries etc and the system in that sense seems completely wrong."
The MGU-K on Ricciardo's car stopped working completely just 18 laps into the Monaco race. and though reports suggested Renault thought the unit was salvageable, Newey denied the suggestion.
"I rather doubt it, considering it caught fire and was a burnt out, charred wreck," he added to Reuters. "I would be somewhat surprised at that one."
Renault are poised to introduce a new engine this weekend but Newey has cautioned expectations by predicting it may only gain a tenth of a second of lap time.
Red Bull are in the final year of their existing arrangement with Renault and team boss Christian Horner has said a decision will be made on their future engine plans in the next two months.
Red Bull's junior outfit Toro Rosso switched to Honda at the start of the season.
How many engine parts has Ricciardo already used?
All six of the drivers with Renault-powered cars have already replaced at least one of the six elements that make up an F1 power unit so far this season, with Ricciardo already one more change away from the limit on engines, turbochargers and MGU-Hs.
But the Australian, the race winner in Monaco, is already up to the penalty limit on the three areas of the power unit that can only be used twice - the MGU-K, control electronics and the energy store.
Mercedes' championship leader Lewis Hamilton, by contrast, is still on the power unit elements he started the season with in Australia.
