Daniel Ricciardo appeared to be back to 100% form after his outing at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Ever since his departure from Red Bull in 2018 Ricciardo hasn’t quite found a home that was mutually beneficial for his growth and team success. After a few short stents with Renault and McLaren. He found himself back in the Red Bull camp as a reserve driver before opportunity came knocking.
Unfortunately, Ricciardo got off to a slow start as he reacquainted with the hustle and bustle of the F1 grid. Just when we saw him starting to build chemistry with his Alpha Tauri he injured wrist at the Dutch Grand Prix. Fast forward to present day and Ricciardo seems to be in a much better groove that last week. After qualifying P4 for the Mexico City Grand Prix Ricciardo was flying high heading into the grand prix. Ricciardo commented on the race weekend, “There’s a lot of emotions, and I’m definitely feeling better than good. Two starts on this track hold your breath because it’s such a long run until Turn 1, and anything can happen.
Ricciardo Discusses the Red Flag and Restart
The first start, we went into Turn 1 fourth and came out of it fourth as well, so I was happy. For the second start, I knew the Red Flag would hurt our race, but I’m happy to hear that Kevin (Magnussen) wasn’t injured after the big crash he had. Restarting on the hard compound, with others opting for the medium tire, and only losing one position, was close to the best scenario, and we did well. We tried to settle into our rhythm, where I had a little fight with Norris but then let him go.
We thought if he could catch George (Russell), he’d bring him closer to us, and he did. On the last lap, we got close but didn’t quite make it. Regardless, to be fighting with a Mercedes at the end is exciting. Overall, it was a good weekend during which we gained six important points. Now let’s keep the ball rolling.”
It is clear Ricciardo is hungry for more. He also added “It’s definitely more fun fighting at the front,” “It just feels better, feels right, so happy with the weekend and we’ll try to keep this thing rolling.” After the race Ricciardo felt like the red flag hindered his race. At just about half race distance Kevin Magnussen suffered from a suspension failure that resulted in the race being red flagged. The grid stacked up and it opened the door for everyone behind Ricciardo to have another shot at passing him. While Ricciardo couldn’t capitalize on his qualifying position. Capitalizing on grid position and scoring championship points in his second race back is a good achievement.
Next up is the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend at Interlagos. Ricciardo will hope to extend this stroke of brilliant into the weekend.