The Australian was frustrated at his home race at the start of the season by a grid-place penalty which essentially ended his hopes of a podium finish, though he finished in fourth.
But an energy storing system failure ended his Bahrain Grand Prix after just two laps last weekend, with team-mate Max Verstappen also retiring early on in Sakhir.
And down one of the long straights in Shanghai, the back of Ricciardo’s car spat out flames and plumes of smoke as he said over the team radio: “I’ve got an issue, I’ve got an issue” and brought his car to a halt on the section of grass near to the pit lane.
That came after Ricciardo sat in the garage for the first 20 minutes with mechanics checking through his gearbox.
Red Bull have not yet confirmed whether or not Ricciardo did indeed suffer an engine failure, though all the signs suggest that Red Bull have already lost one of their three engines for the season.
Ricciardo’s hopes of making qualifying – at 7am – are in huge doubt with an engine change likely needed and even potential chassis damage.
A dejected Christian Horner told Sky Sports from the pit wall: “The guys have a bit of a job on to turn it around for qualifying. I think we’ve got a suspected turbo failure.
“That’s what the analysis is at the moment, whether that’s damage to the combustion engine as well, only time will tell. It looks turbo-orientated at the moment.
“The amount of times we’ve had to change engines, the guys are well versed to it. It’s a second race in a row. Disappointing is probably an understatement.
“This failure, let’s get the analysis, understand what it is fully and then there will be plenty of information I’m sure.”
