Daniel Ricciardo has dedicated his fourth career victory in a very heartfelt manner to his family and the late Jules Bianchi.
Ricciardo said: “I want to dedicate the win to Jules (Bianchi), I have been waiting for a victory to dedicate to him. My life definitely changed since that incident and I am extremely grateful and appreciative of everything I’ve got.”
For the early stages of the race Ricciardo managed to avoid the first corner collisions between the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and his teammate Max Verstappen, after which he then attempted to chase down race leader Lewis Hamilton.
As the race panned out, the first Virtual Safety Car saw his teammate put on an alternate strategy in an attempt to put Hamilton and Mercedes under pressure, Ricciardo had to play out a lengthy strategy and try to comeback at the pair later in the race.
In the latter stages of the race, both Ricciardo and Verstappen fought wheel to wheel on the track with both drivers side by side through Turns 5 and 6. Giving each other fair racing room, there was respect between the pair but it was Riccardo who won out that small but pivotal battle.
Ricciardo added: “We had a good battle with Max, he is a hard racer and we have that in common. We fought hard and aggressive but I think we showed we can push to the limit but still keep it on the track.”
“We had a fair and clean fight and I think we both enjoyed it. My tyres were a little more tired than his but I was going to hold him off as long as I could.”
However, with just 15 laps remaining, an engine failure for Lewis Hamilton meant that Red Bull was leading the race with Ricciardo leading a one -two ahead of Verstappen and a charging Rosberg.
Another Virtual Safety Car was called to clear Hamilton’s stranded Mercedes and the stricken three-wheeled Haas of Esteban Gutierrez, both Red Bull were made to pit as the team were unsure if the tyres they had prior to the stop would have lasted the distance.
With the laps ticking down Red Bull did not impose team orders unlike in 2013 and allowed both drivers to tussle it out for victory, but Verstappen couldn’t quite get up to the back of his Aussie teammate to get his second victory of the season.
Ricciardo celebrated his victory on social media by tweeting this picture.
Twitter:
https://t.co/dUEVK6Xez9 (@danielricciardo)
