Red Bull and Riccardo within four tenths of victory

Starting second and fourth on the Singapore grid, Max Verstappen's chances were jeopardized by a botched start. Meanwhile, Daniel Riccardo battled all the way to the end of the 61-lap race for victory! The Australian's second place and the Dutchman's sixth keep the Austrian team ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' standings.

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The day after an impeccable qualifying session, Daniel Ricciardo started the race on the front line right next to a Rosberg on top form. The start went smoothly for the Australian, with positions on the front line remaining unchanged, far from the chaos of the midfield. But the number 3 driver seemed almost to regret this moment of the race when speaking to the journalists present: « if something could have been more perfect, it would have been the start, but Nico had a good start and even with a perfect start, we couldn’t have passed him. »

On the third lap restart, the Mercedes driver quickly widened the gap, but Riccardo was getting somewhat closer during the first stint, as Rosberg then grappled with brake overheating issues. It was at the end of the thirteenth lap that the Red Bull driver decided to stop to replace his super soft tires with new ones.

Riccardo continues steadily in second position and stopped again on lap 32 to switch to soft tires; to cover the remaining distance to be traveled.

Finally, the Australian decided, like the drivers behind him, to go through the pit lane again to opt for an aggressive strategy by switching to the ultra-soft tires twenty laps from the finish. « The team put me on a three-stop strategy, I had to push, I knew I was getting closer even if it would be difficult to overtake » stated “Dan the Man” on the subject.

It was then a period of attack for the Australian who was gaining seconds on Rosberg, who decided not to stop. Ricciardo closed in second by second in the final laps, finishing his race… four-tenths behind the German, in a fine second place ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).

As soon as we made the pit stop, we thought Nico would do the same. I was really pushing hard on the tires. At the end, they were a bit dead… but the end of the race was great for me. By the way, the former Toro Rosso driver claimed the fastest lap in his frenzied race for victory, the seventh of his entire career (the third in 2016).

For his part, Max Verstappen started his night race in fourth place on the grid. His start was catastrophic, narrowly avoiding a complete stall. By moving to the right, he caused a spectacular collision involving several cars, mainly those of Carlos Sainz and Nico Hülkenberg.

He immediately fell back to eighth position, behind the same Carlos Sainz who had to stop a few laps later because of a damaged side deflector. “Considering the start of the race, I think we did our best to overtake,” the Dutchman said on the matter.

Once rid of the Spaniard, this time it was against the other Toro Rosso driver, Daniil Kvyat, that he found himself battling for seventh place without being able to gain an advantage. “I was able to overtake by myself, it was fun, unfortunately not to the point where I would have wanted, but at least I fought!” said the driver when discussing his battle with the sister team’s driver, who perhaps could have moved aside more quickly.

Subsequently, the Dutchman made his first pit stop quite early on the thirteenth lap to switch to the super soft tires. At that point in the race, the Dutchman was struggling immensely to preserve his tires. « It’s very difficult and, as soon as you stay behind (opponents) for three or four laps, you destroy your tires. » This even forced his team to switch to a four-stop strategy.

Finally, the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix finishes a difficult race in sixth position, after ultimately overtaking Fernando Alonso in his McLaren. A relatively good performance considering his tumultuous race.

« As soon as I was able to get out of the traffic, I was able to express the potential of my car and manage my tires. But unfortunately, I didn’t have many free laps. »

However, this collective result rewarded with a total of 26 points allows the Milton Keynes team to maintain the second place in the constructors’ championship, now 15 points ahead of Scuderia Ferrari.

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