Ricciardo fumes after dramatic finish to Styrian Grand Prix
Monday, 13 July 2020
The Aussie said he had hoped for more.
Australia's Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated after dropping two places on the penultimate lap of the Styrian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo slipped from sixth to eighth after an aggressive move from Racing Point driver Lance Stroll forced him off the track at the Red Bull Ring.
Stroll was cleared of any wrongdoing, but Ricciardo’s Renault team later lodged a protest relating to the "the legality of the Racing Point RP20".
FIA stewards declared the protest was admissible, meaning it will come before a full hearing when evidence has been gathered.
While Stroll's driving was not penalised, Ricciardo said he had hoped for more from the second race of the 2020 Formula 1® season.
"I had a good start and made some decent progress up the order," Ricciardo said.
"The end of the race was frustrating, and I was struggling to hold on to the position on the last couple of laps.
Points on the board for @danielricciardo at the #AustrianGP 👍 A scrap with @LanceStroll in the closing laps cost the 🇦🇺 a better placing #F1 pic.twitter.com/BUzA4Psyu8
— F1 Australian Grand Prix (@ausgrandprix) July 12, 2020
"On the incident, I did see Stroll coming but I felt if I turned in, we would have crashed, so I had to make that call.
"I maybe should have blocked him and it's a shame to lose a couple of positions from that one moment.
"The overriding feeling is frustration, but we're up and running for the season now."
Despite his disappointment at the chequered flag, Ricciardo was otherwise pleased to score his first points of the year after retiring from last week's season-opening Austrian Grand Prix with a cooling issue.
The Aussie enjoyed a battle with Renault teammate Esteban Ocon in the early stages of the race before the Frenchman was forced to retire – also due to a cooling issue.
"It was good to have some fun with Daniel," Ocon said.
"We were both on different strategies and I think he had a bit more on tyres. We looked on for a good team result, so it's a shame what happened.
"We have another opportunity next week to score some points."
The Styrian Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton, with his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completing the podium.
Formula 1® returns next weekend in neighbouring Hungary, with a visit to the Hungaroring.
