Daniel Ricciardo was left to lament what could have been after a virtual safety car hampered his chances at the US Grand Prix.
After a great start to the race on the supersoft tyres, Ricciardo managed to brave it out around the outside the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg through Turn 2 and try to get after Lewis Hamilton.
Through the early laps Riccardo managed to keep close to Hamilton, but as the tyres started to fall away, so did the gap.
“I think the actual launch itself didn’t seem that much stronger than the Mercedes on the soft tyre. I was hoping it would go a bit better, but then Nico opted to go to the outside so I had some room on the inside there.
“I got one at least, I was hoping to get two but that was better than nothing.”
Despite being slower in qualifying, the race pace of both Red Bulls was very encouraging as they kept pace with the Mercedes duo.
However a gearbox issue for teammate Max Verstappen left him struggling to get around the circuit, the Dutchman was told to park his car RB12 on the exit of Turn 16.
The position in which the car was left gave race director Charlie Whiting no choice but to throw out the virtual safety car and gave Rosberg the chance to pit under those and gain a huge chunk of time over Ricciardo.
“Unfortunately third was the outcome but it’s still nice to be on the podium,” Ricciardo added.
“When I saw Max out there I thought ‘Ah hell, my boy’s done it again!’. Anyways, that was a devestational moment, but we’ll keep soldiering on and we still got some points over Ferrari today so I’m pretty pleased with that.”
