Ricciardo Australian GP engine change confirmed

RB has made a precautionary power unit change for Daniel Ricciardo ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

The home hero will start at the back of the grid at Albert Park having had his best lap time deleted in qualifying, lining up 18th for the Faenza-based outfit.

But ahead of the 58-lap event in Melbourne, RB has changed the internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K on the VCARB-01, paying no penalty for the amendments.

RacingNews365 understands that there was no damage found on the components used thus far during the race weekend but that the changes were made as a precaution.

As such, Ricciardo will remain 18th and last on the grid, with Zhou Guanyu starting from the pits for Stake F1 and Williams withdrawing Logan Sargeant from the weekend due to a lack of spare chassis after Alex Albon's FP1 crash on Friday.