Ricciardo disqualified in 2014: 'But Red Bull paid bonus anyway'
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- GPblog.com
Daniel Ricciardo was well on his way to his first podium in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. He crossed the finish line second, but afterwards the driver from Perth was disqualified by the stewards. More than seven years later, Ricciardo tells a nice anecdote about the still painful incident.
It was his first race for Red Bull Racing and in front of a home crowd at the Melbourne circuit. Ricciardo was obviously extremely happy with this performance, but he was dropped from the results due to an illegal fuel delivery during the Grand Prix.
Confirmation for Ricciardo
“I think internally there was some celebrating inside me because I knew what I’d achieved on that weekend. I’d kind of ticked the box to myself that ‘OK I can do this, I can race at the front. I remember I had a lot of mates there and we’d kind of organised a few drinks in the hotel room, and I remember the bathtub was full of ice and drinks, but it wasn’t really the atmosphere to go", says Ricciardo.
Indeed, before the party could properly break out in the hotel room, Ricciardo received a phone call from Jonathan Wheatley, the team manager. "I got the call from Jonathan Wheatley [Red Bull’s Sporting Director], telling me what I knew was coming, but he confirmed it. There were a few hugs and whatever, but it was pretty mellow, unfortunately," he told the podcast In The Fast Lane.
Just a bonus
At the time, Red Bull Racing handed out a lot of performance contracts, with drivers only really earning big money if they achieved podiums or a win. This cash bonus wasn't actually supposed to be paid out to Ricciardo, but Christian Horner let that slide. "I think what cheered me up is – I’m sure they won’t mind me saying this, actually it puts them in good light – I think the day after, I think it was Christian called me and said, ‘Look, we’ll still pay your podium bonus’. So that was nice. That softened the blow a little bit! That was like my first real pay cheque in the sport, so I was quite happy.”