Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated after a poor strategy left him out of podium contention. The Australian finished the final race of the season fifth, behind his teammate.
When Ricciardo put supersoft tyres on for his lap in Q2, it was clear Red Bull were trying something different in the race. But Ricciardo pitted earlier than expected, though, putting him on the same strategy as those around him.
“I’m just frustrated in how the strategy played out in the end,” he said after the race. “We had the supersofts at the start and it was still going pretty well and we tried to make a move on Kimi. For sure it was close but we didn’t pull it off and that really hurt me. I think we should have just gone long and one-stopped but in hindsight it’s always easy to say.”
Ricciardo didn’t pit too long after those at the front of the field. His teammate Max Verstappen did his best to keep up those between himself and Ricciardo, allowing the Australian to catch up, but Ricciardo couldn’t find a way past Raikkonen.
Lap after lap, Ricciardo was stuck behind Raikkonen. At one point, Raikkonen squeezed Ricciardo off of the track, but the incident went uninvestigated. The Australian was only able to get past Raikkonen’s Ferrari in the pits. The undercut moved Ricciardo ahead of Raikkonen and into fourth. Verstappen later found his way back past his teammate, having fallen behind Ricciardo after pitting, and that would be where the Australian would finish.
Ricciardo said after the race he ‘didn’t want to be too down’ with the fifth place but, had Red Bull stuck with the original strategy, Ricciardo could have been a few places higher.
