Daniel Ricciardo has been forced to retire again as his disastrous start to life at Renault continued at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Five-times world champion Lewis Hamilton took out a lucky win for Mercedes, as Ricciardo’s disastrous championship run continued.

Hamilton denied Charles Leclerc a first Formula One victory after the 21-year-old Monegasque experienced engine trouble in the dying stages on Sunday.

Leclerc, who had started from pole position and finished third, had been set to become Ferrari’s youngest winner in just his second race for the Italian team when his car started losing power.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas, both as much as four seconds a lap faster than the stricken Ferrari, reeled him in and breezed past to secure the team’s second one-two finish in as many races.

The race finished behind the safety car deployed after both Renaults, driven by Ricciardo and German teammate Nico Hulkenberg, stopped on track.

View photos Daniel Ricciardo was forced to retire again. Image:F1 More

Ricciardo actually led the race at the halfway stage as the he was the last driver on track who hadn’t pitted.

But he retired with just a few laps remaining, reporting that his car had switched off completely as he approached the first corner.

‘Electrocution’ drama

He was then summoned to the stewards after the race for not leaving his steering wheel in place.

But no further action has been taken, because the stewards heard that Ricciardo did not replace his steering wheel for safety reasons.

After stopping on the entry of Turn 2 with “power unit issues”, his car’s energy recovery system alert light turned red, signifying the car was “electrically unsafe”.

View photos Daniel Ricciardo in action. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) More

Ricciardo was told by the team to shut down the engine and the electrical system and “to jump from the car”.

He was told not to touch the car, which the stewards noted is “the normal safety procedure in such circumstances to avoid potential electrocution”.

They said Ricciardo felt it would be dangerous to try to replace the steering wheel in these circumstances.

Avoiding any penalty is little consolation to the Australian, who has retired from his first two grands prix with Renault since switching from Red Bull.

To make matters worse for Renault, Ricciardo’s retirement occurred moments after teammate Nico Hulkenberg had retired at the same corner.

Both drivers were also running in the points at the time.

with agencies