Ricciardo, ninth in Monaco: “It was a very frustrating race!”

For once, the weekend was looking promising for Daniel Ricciardo. 7th in qualifying, he eventually started 6th due to Pierre Gasly’s penalty. Despite his great start which had immediately propelled him ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, the Australian was losing nearly 2 seconds per lap to Sebastian Vettel and found himself nearly 25 seconds behind the Ferrari driver.

If the Safety Car could have saved him, Renault surely made a strategic error by fitting its new recruit with medium tires. This choice forced Ricciardo to be very protective of his rubber, causing him to slide down the standings.

He still managed to rocket back towards Romain Grosjean, gaining 1 second per lap on the French driver who received a 5-second penalty after the race for crossing the white line at the pit exit. This penalty allowed the former Red Bull driver to secure 9th position on paper.

Daniel Ricciardo did not hide his disappointment at the finish: « it was a very frustrating race to be honest. We got off to a great start by overtaking Kevin Magnussen on the outside for fifth place before an excellent first corner. Then we pitted during the Safety Car and that’s where we missed something. »

« We definitely could have done better and achieved an excellent result since we had everything in our hands. Even though some points elude us, the car was performing well, although we couldn’t always fully exploit its speed. »

With two additional points, Ricciardo occupies the 13th place in the drivers’ standings. The outlook isn’t any more optimistic for Nico Hülkenberg, modestly finishing 14th at the Monaco race this Sunday, moving to 13th after the penalty given to Kevin Magnussen. An involuntary participant in the deployment of the Safety Car on the 11th lap, two laps after closing the door on Leclerc at the Rascasse, Hülkenberg did not benefit from his pit stop, switching from mediums to hards. The German came out behind Pérez, unable to overtake him until the finish.

« Nothing went in our favor. We made a good start by avoiding problems, but we fell victim to a puncture when Charles [Leclerc] cut my tire. Fortunately, I didn’t hit the wall, but the safety car allowed everyone to take the lead. I was at the back of the pack, and it was difficult to get back in the game. »

It’s hard to take, as this result does not reflect Renault’s current level of competitiveness. We showed excellent pace with a clear track at the end. The car had more performance and potential than the results show.

At Renault, the situation is getting a bit more complicated, as the French manufacturer is now eighth, overtaken by Toro Rosso in the standings. A rebound is expected in Canada!

🎙 “It’s clearly a missed opportunity that does not reward the hard work of the team and the drivers to improve the competitiveness of the package.”
Cyril Abiteboul – #MonacoGP, Sunday 👇
Full report 👉 https://t.co/dEXz2BygmO#RSspirit pic.twitter.com/ZahBga5rGh

— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) 26 mai 2019