F1 News

Ricciardo: "So nice to beat Verstappen in his dominant weekend''

21 May 2020 at 12:02
Last update 21 May 2020 at 12:33
  • GPblog.com

In Dan's Diary, Daniel Ricciardo looks back on moments in his career that are either lows, but also highlights of his career. A beautiful look in the mind of the always smiling Ricciardo.

This is how Ricciardo describes his moment of happiness when he won his very first Formula 1 victory at the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix and was most proud of his fight with Michael Schumacher in Japan 2012 and the respect he received from Fernando Alonso after their fight at the 2014 German Grand Prix.

Ricciardo and Monaco

However, an important point for Ricciardo is the Monaco Grand Prix in 2016. Because the tyres were not ready for his pit stop, Ricciardo was deprived of a victory in the princedom by his team. ''To this day I still feel the pain of that day in so much detail. I was so angry after the pit stop and just wanted to cry in my own room. But then Helmut Marko came in with tears in his eyes and a sincere 'sorry'. He hugged me and I really couldn't react any more angry'', Ricciardo says now four years later.

Two years later Ricciardo takes revenge in Monaco, but that victory wasn't easy either. ''At that moment you are so afraid that the victory will be taken away from you again, but fortunately that didn't happen. I was so happy and relieved that I could finally leave 2016 behind me'', you can read.

Despair at Ricciardo

However, the last year at Red Bull Racing didn't end as well as it started for Ricciardo. With many breakdowns, the Australian wasn't doing well and cried it out after bad luck in America. In Mexico he wanted to put everything right with a pole position on the saturday, but on Sunday it all went wrong again.

''It felt so good to take that pole during a weekend in which Verstappen was so dominant. But then that Sunday came and everything went wrong. We didn't get the right engine setting before the start and I lost my pole. I fought back to the podium, but the fact that I had to retire before the end of the race was agai disappointing'', concludes Ricciardo about a frustrating Mexican Grand Prix.