Ricciardo to start Turkish Grand Prix from the back after power unit change

Daniel Ricciardo will start the Turkish Grand Prix from the back of the grid, having taken a new internal combustion engine, turbo and MGU-H aboard his McLaren MCL35M.

Bad timing saw Ricciardo suffer a Q1 elimination in qualifying at Istanbul Park, with Ricciardo having been set to start P15 on the grid – one place up from his qualifying position, after Carlos Sainz took his own power unit penalty.

But McLaren have now opted to give Ricciardo new power unit components, meaning he’ll join Sainz at the back of the back when lights go out at 1500 local time.

READ MORE: Ricciardo says he needed a ‘magic wand’ to avoid Q1 exit as he aims to ‘put on a show’ in Turkey

Ricciardo had taken a philosophical approach to missing out on Q2 on Saturday, telling the media: “If you had a magic wand, you’d probably want to be the last one to cross the line and there’s going to be probably some free time there, so we couldn’t plan any of that.

“It was yellow flags often into Turn 1 [so] that your lap would get aborted, and then you’re out of sync, so just the nature in these kind of changing conditions, but we didn’t get on top of it today. No big, sad story here.”