Ricciardo rues ‘the most disappointing fifth’ after Sakhir GP mayhem
Monday, 7 December 2020
The Aussie believes the race was a missed opportunity.
Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo was left to rue what could have been as he finished in fifth place at the Sakhir Grand Prix.
Ricciardo, who started from P7, moved up the field as mayhem on the opening lap saw Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc scratched from the race.
While a series of costly errors by usual frontrunners Mercedes meant all podium places were up for grabs, Ricciardo was undone by a mistake from his own team.
Renault called Ricciardo in too late for his first pit stop, allowing AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat to undercut him and stay in front.
“It was a scrappy race from our side I felt,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1.
“I got called into the pits, I was already past the pit entry so I couldn’t pit and then Kvyat undercut us, so we gave him a freebie and spent that whole second stint behind him.
“I just felt every lap we were behind him, the race was getting away from us.”
P5 for @danielricciardo at the #SakhirGP 👍 Without an ill-timed pitstop after a Virtual Safety Car, he may have scored a podium #F1 pic.twitter.com/xNingDBqvW
— F1 Australian Grand Prix (@ausgrandprix) December 6, 2020
The Aussie eventually moved ahead of Kvyat, crossing the line in P5 as Sergio Perez (Racing Point) claimed his maiden Formula 1® win and Ricciardo’s teammate Esteban Ocon took second place.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll rounded out the podium in third.
“It’s tough because I’m fifth, normally that’s a good result, and Esteban second, so congrats to him,” Ricciardo said.
“But obviously when you see our (Racing Point) rivals first and third, and I heard Perez was in the pits in lap one.
“Obviously congrats to Perez but for all of us, a car that pits on lap one, you can’t let him win the race. I feel we all missed out today.
“It’s probably the most disappointing fifth I’ve had in a while.
“I’ll try and shake this one off and finish strong. Again, second and fifth is a huge day for the team, but we’ll try and do first and second next week.”
Ricciardo returns to action for the final race of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 11-13 December, which will be his last race with Renault before a move to McLaren in 2021.
