F1 | Eifel GP | Daniel Ricciardo Starting P6 to Finishing P3 Felt Like "Stepping Onto Podium For The First Time"
Daniel Ricciardo reflects on his first podium at Nürburgring after a two-year podium drought being his last one at Monaco in 2018.
Daniel Ricciardo, after yesterday's qualifying was set to start sixth on the grid after a difficult battle at the wheel of the Renault RS20 allowed him to gain three places to climb to the third step of the podium for Renault Sport for the teams first podium appearance since the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.
IT'S A ****** PODIUM !! 🏆🍾 #RSspirit #EifelGP pic.twitter.com/IKJh0Gzmq6
- Renault F1 Team (@ RenaultF1Team) October 11, 2020
The result of today's race was a very good team effort behind-the-scenes which allowed the Australian driver to deliver an amazing performance. Lasting sixty laps in cold and wet conditions allowed challenged Ricciardo of tire management and patience.
The beginning of the race was already interesting for the Australian after having a fourth-place battle with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and after a good fight and a mistake lock-up outside the second corner by the Ferrari driver, Ricciardo managed to steal the fourth place spot . Until putting on medium tires under the virtual safety car on lap 16, Ricciardo sat at third place.
During this brief neutralization, as the competition remained on the field, the task of Ricciardo was to control his medium tires until the checkered flag especially with the safety car's presence at the end of the race. This gave Ricciardo the chance to build a gap slightly larger than the second under the checkered flag despite being under amounts of pressure at the restarts.
Unfortunately, his teammate, Esteban Ocon, retired on lap 23 due to the hydraulic problem in which the fate of Renault points now rested in Daniel Ricciardo's hands. And lo 'and behold, after the team's 10-year deficit and a two-year drought for the driver. Daniel Ricciardo, P3 at the Eifel GP.
but we had the benefit of the track position. The safety car gave us an advantage, we made that choice and it was ultimately the right one. What a day! "
🍾 One part champagne
- Formula 1 (@ F1) October 11, 2020
🧦 One part sock-filtered Aussie foot
👞 Serve chilled in a racing shoe
A textbook @danielricciardo Shoey! #EifelGP 🇩🇪 # F1 pic.twitter.com/Kdepi5trNn
After this race, is a week break for rest. Next stop: Portugal.
