Daniel Ricciardo has been disqualified from Singapore Grand Prix qualifying after stewards ruled his car’s energy recovery system had deployed too much power.

The Australian Renault driver had qualified eighth on the grid on Saturday, one place ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg, but it emerged he had exceeded his power limit in the Q1 segment of qualifying.

Renault argued that the excess was very small and offered no measurable benefit but stewards said that was no defence under the rules.

Ricciardo is now likely to have to start from the pit lane on Sunday for a race where overtaking is difficult and track position a key factor.