Daniel Ricciardo had « one of the best races » of his career
Leading at the first corner, then relegated to the bottom of the standings after his tire quickly disintegrated, Daniel Ricciardo had an eventful race. His comeback to fourth place testifies to both the Red Bull's potential and the Australian's talent.
Daniel Ricciardo, second on the starting grid but on super soft tires against Nico Rosberg on soft tires, logically got a better start than the German and was leading at the first corner. Unfortunately, the left rear tire of the RB12 suddenly detached, compromising the Australian’s race, who thankfully wasn’t far from the pits at the time of his incident. « On the second lap, there was debris here and there. I don’t think I hit a big piece of debris, it was unpredictable. On the straight, I felt the rear was gone. In my mind, I thought of it right away. The car became unstable and the tire went off » the Australian told Sky Sports after the race.
At the back of the pack, but having benefited from the Safety Car, Daniel Ricciardo then delivered a remarkable race to finish in fourth place, behind Daniil Kvyat but ahead of Kimi Räikkönen or Lewis Hamilton. “The second half of the race was one of the best races of my life,” he congratulated himself. “It’s very promising. After three races, we demonstrate our strength every time. We didn’t think we would have this level. We have potential. Today, I really feel that I could have celebrated with champagne, but there will be other opportunities,” he concluded.
In the overall standings, Daniel Ricciardo is three points behind Lewis Hamilton, while Red Bull is only four points behind Ferrari. With the Renault engine upgrades expected for Canada, the Austrian single-seaters could therefore pose a serious threat to the Scuderia.
