As Lewis Hamilton raged after a setback, Australian F1 star Daniel Ricciardo hit him on the chin, offering the perfect answer
Formula 1: The F1 paddock saw the return of Mad Max when Red Bull driver Max Verstappen got stuck behind George Russell’s Williams during Free Practice 1 of the Russian Grand Prix
Australian F1 star Daniel Ricciardo was a man of his word after receiving a five-second penalty in the Russian Grand Prix overnight
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas won a dramatic race that left teammate Lewis Hamilton furious after receiving two five-second penalties for practice lap violation in the formation lap before the lights went out
There was chaos in the first lap when McLaren’s Carlos Sainz crashed into a wall at turn two and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was knocked out by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc
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Ricciardo, who started the race on the third row of the grid, avoided the carnage behind him and although he scrambled for the third in one stage, remained in virtually the same position for the entire duration of the Grand Prix and crossed the fifth line
After attacking early, Ricciardo was making his way back onto the pitch when he got stuck behind his Renault teammate Esteban Ocon and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel
After several unsuccessful passing laps for Ocon, the team ordered Ricciardo to take the lead – and it almost ended in disaster
Coming into the second corner, which had been a tough corner for the drivers all weekend, the Aussie star locked himself in and ran wide, receiving a standard five-second penalty
« I’m just going to drive faster, » he told team radio when told about the penalty. « It’s my trouble, I’ll make up for that »
And he did, finishing fifth, 10 seconds ahead of Leclerc sixth, canceling his five-second penalty
“I just locked myself up and it was pretty simple on my part,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports “As I hit the brake, I was like,“ Oh… oh no ”My engineer came over and said I had a five second penalty, took responsibility for it and just said I would drive faster «
When asked why he hadn’t tried to cross the line, Ricciardo replied that he just hoped he had held on
« This is one of those where I think from the outside it’s easy to say, ‘Just go through the cut’, but I held on until the very end, » a- he said « And to be honest in the car you can’t exactly see the sidewalk and its end and the visibility is not perfect
« I knew I was probably done, but I’ll try to hold on to it if I can Obviously I didn’t but I probably forced myself to push a little harder on the end, so I made a run for myself «
Social media certainly felt the love for Ricciardo’s elegant and straightforward radio response to his punishment
Chat to the team microphone at #RussianGP today: « Team against Ricciardo: we had a 5 second penalty Ricciardo to team: Ok Will drive faster and compensate » The # F1 driver is the best example to push even harder while running at the peak performance limit I must love this attitude!
AMOUR CETTERENAULT: « You have a five second penalty for the incident at turn 2 » 🎧RICCIARDO: « OK I will drive faster » 🎧RENAULT: « Hi mate » 🎧 # RussianGP 🇷🇺 # F1 picTwittercom / o6uHYKP8CD
Daniel Ricciardo shows how you accept to be told you have a five-second penalty « No worries I’ll drive harder » #RussianGP
While he couldn’t put pressure on Racing Point’s Sergio Perez in fourth place, the result sees Ricciardo move up to sixth in the drivers’ standings, one point behind Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, who is one point behind McLaren’s Lando Norris in Fourth
If he manages to overtake Norris and hang on to fourth place, it would be his best result since the 2016 season when he was with Red Bull
« I’m happy with the result, there were times in the race where I was definitely a little angry with myself », said Ricciardo « There were a few mistakes on my part But I didn’t didn’t let it get to me and I think it was important
« I knew I had made some mistakes, but I got through it quickly and recovered quite well I admit I was not perfect today, that’s for sure, but I think overall I’m still happy with the result
As far as the constructors’ standings are concerned, Renault is still fifth but it organizes a close battle in the midfield with Racing Point and McLaren while only seven points separate the teams
Although Ricciardo is not sure that any upgrades are planned in the coming weeks, he is confident for the future
“I was pretty pessimistic coming here, I wasn’t sure how the car would be, too,” he said “So that we have a solid weekend throughout, i honestly wear pretty good confidence now for the rest of the runs this year
« Obviously I’m not getting ahead of ourselves, but I think we can really shake things up and Nurburgring, I can’t wait to come back »
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Daniel Ricciardo
World News – AU – Daniel Ricciardo’s elegant response is why we love the Australian F1 star
