Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo has been left ruing a difficult Malaysian Grand Prix in which the Australian finished 10th, one place behind team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
Ricciardo had a strong qualifying in a wet Q3 to be fourth on the grid and was fully expecting to be competitive during the race but spent the majority of the afternoon going backwards down the field.
Both Ricciardo and Kvyat struggled with brake issues which cost them pace.
“I probably had high hopes coming into the race and I was ready for a fight to try to do something special, but the race was anything but special,” he said. “We knew we had a bit more pace in the wet than in the dry, but we still expected to run top five or top six.
“We damaged the front wing a bit on the first lap, which I think hurt us somewhat, and there was quite a bit going on with the brakes. We couldn’t really look after the tires that well. I think with the other issues we had they were hurting our driving style.
“It wasn’t exciting. I just felt helpless, to be honest. I feel like I came in fired up and ready to go, but it was hard to put up a fight.”
Ricciardo’s team-mate at Red Bull last season Sebastian Vettel picked up his debut Ferrari win, lapping both Red Bull’s along the way.
“[It was the] Icing on the cake. Congratulations to Seb, but getting lapped by him is not the best feeling in the world,” the Aussie said.
Image Courtesy Of Red Bull Racing F1 Team
