Frustration for Daniel Ricciard as VCARB ‘got it wrong’ in Hungary
VCARB banked two more points on Sunday in Budapest thanks to Yuki Tsunoda, but ‘got it wrong’ with Daniel Ricciardo
F1 Grand Prix of Hungary
Photo by James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Daniel Ricciardo started the Hungarian Grand Prix inside the top ten.
However, the veteran Formula 1 driver did not finish there.
Ricciardo began the race on the medium compound and pitted early, coming into the pits on Lap 8 to make the switch to the hard tire. However, that early pit stop saw Ricciardo emerge amid heavy traffic, and he faced an uphill fight from there to try and recover position on the track.
Ricciardo gained a few spots on his second pit stop, but ultimately finished outside the points, settling for a P12.
That “long and frustrating” afternoon left the Australian driver looking for answers after the race.
“Today it was a long and frustrating race,” said Ricciardo in the team’s post-race report. “We didn’t use the pace we had in the clear air. We were on the mediums at the start of the race and after only a few laps we pitted for new hards together with the other cars who started on softs, coming out in traffic. It’s even more frustrating because we were quick all weekend, and I felt like we have taken ourselves out of the race so early as we couldn’t fight cars that were coming much quicker on newer [tires].”
VCARB Team Principal Laurent Mekies conceded that the team “got it wrong” with Ricciardo on Sunday.
“Unfortunately, we got it wrong with Daniel and pitted him too early in heavy traffic, which lost him a chance to fight for points. His pace had been extremely strong all weekend long, and he demonstrated that again in the final stint of the race when he was finally able to find some free air and fight his way back,” explained Mekies. “We certainly share his frustration, and we will learn and come back stronger next week.”
However, not all was lost for the team, as Yuki Tsunoda battled through the bruising he suffered in his shunt in qualifying on Saturday to finish up in P9, banking two potentially critical points for the team in their fight with Haas for sixth in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.
Tsunoda praised the entire team for putting his RB01 in position to finish in the points on Sunday after his bi
g accident on Saturday.
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