Daniel Ricciardo has seen his chances of victory at his home race in Australia hit after being given a three-place grid penalty following a bizarre incident during practice on Friday.The Red Bull driver was deemed to have driven too fast when returning to the pits under red flag conditions after failing to adhere to a minimum lap time through the final sector.However, the reason for the session being suspended wasn't a crash or anything particularly dangerous, no instead it was a timing wire which had come loose on the start/ finish line. With Albert Park being a temporary street circuit, freak incidents like this are not uncommon, although typically it can be kerbs or drains which the cars can literally suck up as they run over them.But given the nature of what occurred, with Ricciardo also nearing the end of a fast lap when the red flag was thrown, Sky Sports reporter Ted Kravitz bemoaned the decision.

Prior to learning about the penalty, Ricciardo admitted he wasn't too fussed about the disruption caused by the stoppage.

"I don’t think the lap was that good. To be honest, after doing about nine turns on that lap I wasn’t fully happy with the balance," he told reporters afterwards.

"I think I would have been a bit quicker than on the soft tyre and moved up from where we are, but I still don’t think it would have been a P1 lap time."

Now, however, it leaves him plenty of work to do in a car which is notoriously one of the slowest on the straights and on a track where passing is always difficult.

One factor which may help is rain, which is forecast on Saturday and possibly Sunday, and his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who finished second fastest in practice, is hoping that can level the playing field.

“The rain should [help], yes,” he said. “Because it’s not so engine-dependent in the wet.

"It’s just a bit trickier to go on the power and stuff, and our car is quite good in the wet and I enjoy myself as well, so hopefully tomorrow will be wet.”

The Dutchman is also continuing to play the patient game regarding Red Bull's competitiveness, that despite being just a tenth of a second slower than pacesetter Lewis Hamilton on Friday.

“We have to wait as this is one Grand Prix but I think we need at least two or three Grands Prix to really see what’s going on,” the 20-year-old stated.

“I still think from the start of the season Mercedes will always be the favourites. They’ve won four titles in a row. You know Mercedes are going to be quick but I think we still have some things to improve of course but I’m positive.”