F1 News
Ricciardo solves his own problems: "I take full responsibility"
- GPblog.com
Daniel Ricciardo drove an enormously strong race in Sochi. The Australian finished fifth, behind Sergio Perez and in front of Charles Leclerc. Before he could overtake the Ferrari driver, he first had to overtake his team mate. However, when overtaking Esteban Ocon, Ricciardo shot wide, giving him a five-second penalty. Ricciardo's adult response was: "Then I'll drive a little faster" and afterwards he looks back on that.
"On the whole, things went very well, but we ran into some difficulties," explains Ricciardo to Motorsport.com. "I was given the five-second time penalty and I had to make up for it. In the end we were the fourth best team today and that is also reflected in the final classification", Ricciardo said.
With time penalty fifth
The Australian already knew when overtaking Ocon that it was the wrong thing to do. "I was blocking and that's why I just shot too wide. I knew right away that it wasn't right and that I would be punished for it. So I took full responsibility for it and all I could do was make the gap with Leclerc big enough so that the penalty would not affect my final classification".
In general Ricciardo is satisfied with the steps Renault has taken, as they have been close to the podium on a number of occasions in recent races. "The car was like a rocket again today. The start was very good. I am proud that we also finished fifth and that the penalty didn't hit me very hard and that in general we drove a very good race", Ricciardo concluded.