Another podium position for Daniel Ricciardo in Singapore signed off a good weekend for Red Bull, but it could have been better if not for a gearbox problem.
Having avoided the collision at the start between Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, Ricciardo found himself second behind Lewis Hamilton.
“My start was quite slow off the line,” commented Ricciardo after the race. “In hindsight probably a good thing, because it allowed the chaos to unfold in front of me.
“Then in the first few laps I felt we were okay in the wet but then I felt we were a bit harsh on the tyres. Even when we pitted and had fresher tyres, we couldn’t really make an impact on Lewis.”
His race was compromised further with a gearbox problem throughout the race, the pace of the Red Bull faltering through the race as a result.
“The team was asking me to manage the gears through the race and after I learned we had a leak and were losing oil pressure in the gearbox from early on.”
It came on the back of what looked to be the best weekend of the year so far for Red Bull. The first time they had the fastest time in the three practice sessions since 2013, their final championship winning year.
“Of course I came here to win and really wanted it, but second place is great and I’m not going to complain about it.”
