Renault struggles and Ricciardo sinks
This Australian weekend was not favorable to Renault and Daniel Ricciardo, who was making his first appearance in the yellow suit.
They were expected to be the leaders of the midfield. However, things did not go exactly as planned for Daniel Ricciardo and the Renault F1 Team. It all started poorly during qualifying, where the French cars did not have a pace fast enough to make it into Q3, finishing in 11th and 12th place. This was already a hard situation to accept for the team based in Enstone, given the financial and technical resources invested.
However, the Renault Boys hoped to get back in the race and score valuable points in this championship, where the midfield is extremely tight. Unfortunately, Ricciardo didn’t have this chance: his wings were burned right at takeoff. Squeezed by Sergio Perez’s Racing Point at the start, the former Red Bull driver tried to escape to the side to avoid an accident. With two wheels on the grass, his front wing was torn off as he passed over a bump.
The home crowd came to Melbourne to see some vintage @danielricciardo at Albert Park 🤞
But within seconds of lights out, those hopes were dealt a major blow 💥#AusGP 🇦🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/JXDNgTEvTW
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 17, 2019
Tombé en fond de classement, Daniel Ricciardo ne pourra que passer les deux Williams avant que la décision soit prise d’abandonner la course pour préserver le moteur. Triste fin pour le héros local et ses milliers de fans, qui espéraient le voir briller à la maison. « J’ai eu un meilleur départ que Perez mais j’ai du aller sur l’herbe, qui m’a aspiré sur cette bosse. Je n’ai pas pu la voir !»
Alone on the track for his team, Nico Hülkenberg had a solid race, reaching seventh place, earning six points. A good result, though marked by a noticeable lack of pace compared to Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
If Renault hasn’t faced any engine reliability issues, it’s a different story for McLaren, now in its second year of partnership with the French engine manufacturer. Carlos Sainz’s power unit went up in smoke at the end of the 11th lap. This was a damaging blow, considering the Spanish driver had moved from 17th to 14th place and was set to compete for the top 10.
No points for Carlos Sainz on Sunday after this smokey DNF 😭
The McLaren debutant had scored in every #AusGP up until then pic.twitter.com/tKTDIttvfP
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 17, 2019
