Daniel Ricciardo still in the right tempo!
The smile is back on the face of the likeable Red Bull driver! After a difficult start to the season, the Australian is now sailing in calm waters, (almost) right at the top of the leaderboard. After a third-place finish in Budapest and a second in Hockenheim before the summer break, Ricciardo was back on the same step in Spa!
His upward trajectory at Spa was actually the opposite of the downturn experienced by his teammate. Initially, the Perth native had a front-row seat to the Verstappen-Ferrari drivers’ quarrel. Starting from fifth position, he moved up to third at the Source corner, behind Rosberg and Hülkenberg. After unfortunately picking up some debris from a Ferrari, he managed to overtake the Force India driver for second place, just before Magnussen’s crash at the top of Raidillon. He himself later commented on these incidents:
« A lot happened at the start, I hit some of the debris left on the track, damaging my front wing. Fortunately, the red flag allowed me to repair it: the car was quite affected before that. »
Changed during the minutes of interruption, he could also, like his little comrades, change tires, switching to new soft tires. After the restart, Ricciardo maintained his second position without too much difficulty. Only Lewis Hamilton was able to threaten him after his overtakes on Alonso and Hülkenberg. But forced to return to the pits for a third and final stop, he could not challenge the Aussie. Ricciardo thus stepped onto the podium, once again sandwiched between the Mercedes drivers, but with Rosberg in front and Hamilton behind.
marked by the emergence of Max Verstappen and especially by the error of his pit team in Monaco, which cost him the victory,
« I am delighted with this result! I knew the podium was possible. Of course, you’re never safe from a problem, but I was convinced of our race pace after our Friday tests. With Lewis starting from the back, there was an opportunity to at least grab second place: we did it! Victory is always the main target, but Nico had the strong pace we feared, so this second place was ultimately possible! »
Like Nico Rosberg, Ricciardo also had a word for the Belgian Grand Prix supporters, in tune with Max Verstappen’s performances on the other side of the Red Bull garage.
The fans were amazing this weekend, the pre-race parade was simply huge. 99% of the fans here were for Max but they were also cheering for the other drivers: respect to all the Belgian and Dutch fans!
Always playful, the holder of number three put on a show on the podium once again! After inaugurating the tradition at Hockenheim, he now invited his Australian teammate Mark Webber to drink a sip of champagne from his racing shoe. A powerful image of a festive weekend at Spa-Francorchamps!
Kudos to this guy @AussieGrit. Put him on the spot and he flew the flag for 🇦🇺 as he always has! #shoeysallround pic.twitter.com/mKXFrBw397
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) 28 août 2016
Thus, Daniel Ricciardo once again delivered a solid performance, described as brilliant and disciplined according to his team principal, Christian Horner. On a personal level, the driver strengthens his status as the third man on the grid with 151 points, 23 ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
With the constructors, Red Bull maintains its lead over Ferrari, with a 22-point advantage before the next round on the Prancing Horse’s territory in Monza. A circuit that doesn’t necessarily suit the Austrian team…
