F1 | Tuscan GP | Daniel Ricciardo: “It hurts not to be on the podium”
Daniel Ricciardo comments his Tuscan Grand Prix. Starting P8, the australian driver pushed his Renault to fourth, just missing out on the podium again.
In the fast sweeping corners of Mugello, Renault managed to put on another convincing performance.
Despite Esteban Ocon’s DNF caused by brakes overheating, the French marque now counts 12 more points in the bag thanks to Ricciardo’s P4.
“I’m really happy with today’s race and we’re so close to the podium again”, stated a exhausted #3.
The race was long, physical and counted three standing starts, something never seen in Formula 1 since the early ‘90s.
Moreover the air temperature rising over 30°C required even a bigger effort by the drivers: “It was a long day, a long race with the stoppages and incidents, but the main thing is that all the drivers are okay”.
In the end, Daniel Ricciardo came home with a four places gain compared to his starting position: from P8 on the grid, to P4 at the checkered flag. Once again just missing out on that podium Renault is so desperately aiming to.
In particular, after the final restart, the Australian driver was able to release the clutch in great fashion, going from 0 to 200 km/h in just 4.2 seconds. That was enough to jump Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas before turn one, but since then the Renault couldn’t keep the Finn and Alex Albon’s Red Bull behind.
“It looked like we were on for third towards the end of the race, so it’s a shame to come so close. We can’t get any closer than that and we’ll keep pushing. Our starts were good, we got Valtteri [Bottas], but he and Alex [Albon] were just too quick to hold on. It hurts not to be on the podium after that, but fourth is still a big result today.”
Once more, Cyril Abiteboul had to postpone his appointment with the tattoo artist, but considering the solid pace Renault has recently shown both in low and high downforce tracks, the ink may just be weeks away.
A P4 finish for @danielricciardo - matching his best-ever result for @RenaultF1Team 👏
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
And you have voted him as your Driver of the Day! 👊#TuscanGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/tj8f0NjSUP
