Daniel Ricciardo regrets not having had the same strategy as Max Verstappen
Once again, Daniel Ricciardo felt he hadn't had the best of strategies, particularly in relation to Max Verstappen. As a result, the Australian had to settle for fifth place behind his team-mate, who was 19th after the first corner.
If Mercedes had to manage a battle between its two drivers for the world title, Red Bull could very well find itself in this situation in the near future. And each side is presenting its arguments. While Daniel Ricciardo can be satisfied with finishing the season third in the Drivers’ Championship, he did not hide a certain disappointment after the Abu Dhabi race.
Started third on the grid, he only finished fifth after trying to overtake Kimi Räikkönen at the start of the race: « I don’t want to be too disappointed because I’m still fifth. I’m just frustrated with how the strategy played out in the end. We had the super softs at the start and it was going well. We tried to pass Kimi. Obviously, it was tight, but we didn’t succeed, and it really hurt me. »
The Australian is all the more disappointed as he finishes behind his teammate, who had spun off after the first corner. He could only regret not having been able to benefit from the same offensive strategy: « I think we should have gone further and made just one stop. It’s always easy to say in hindsight. I saw Max spin in my mirrors at the first corner and thought he was out of the race. Then, he makes one stop and fights for the podium. So he did well. I just feel like we hurt ourselves with the two-stop strategy because the super softs were good today. »
On the other side of the garage, Max Verstappen was instead satisfied to have been able to recover after his first corner mistake: « After being pushed back far after the first corner and fighting my way back with just one stop, we did our best and I’m happy I managed it. I knew I would be attacked by the guys with two stops because they obviously had more potential in their tires. I don’t think I could have held Seb off at the end. »
He thus doesn’t miss an opportunity to remind that he outperformed his teammate and their more conservative strategy: « When you finish ahead of guys who have an extra stop, you have to be happy with the result, especially when you finish so close to first place. »
The young driver also contributes to the debate about Lewis Hamilton’s attitude, which allowed him to be so close to the lead of the race: « I think Lewis was trying to slow us down. I probably would have done the same thing. You have to try these kinds of things to win a championship. »
Even before winter, hostilities have already begun for 2017!
