Daniel Ricciardo reckons RB ‘doing okay’ after battling Aston Martin at Dutch GP
Daniel Ricciardo finished ahead of Lance Stroll at the Dutch GP after having a few mediocre rounds earlier.
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Daniel Ricciardo (via IMAGO)
Red Bull has found itself in the midst of a title fight with McLaren. With Sergio Perez dropping the ball at one end, it seemed like it was the best time for Daniel Ricciardo to showcase his performance at RB. However, the VCARB01 has been notoriously unstable for him, but the Aussie was able to handle the car to fight with Aston Martin at the Dutch GP.
Daniel Ricciardo was given a chance to revive his F1 career in 2023 when Red Bull decided to sack Nyck de Vries due to his lack of performance. The 35-year-old grabbed the opportunity with both hands and began his pursuit to get back into a top team. However, he has often found himself battling faster cars through the midfield ever since his return and he aimed to bring points for the Faenza-based outfit around Zandvoort.
Though he was unable to score any points, Ricciardo admitted that the team was doing okay to battle with Aston Martin, a regular points contender.
Honestly, I was happy with the race. I think just [Pierre] Gasly was really strong this weekend. And [Fernando] Alonso was quick, but I was there, right behind [Lance] Stroll. If we're fighting an Aston, we know we're kind of doing okay. Wasn't good enough for points, but I think we actually had a strong race. I leave more positive than I did yesterday.Daniel Ricciardo said in the post-race interview as quoted by SpeedCafe
The former race winner further added.
I wasn't like yesterday was a crisis, it was just some internal frustration. You want to start the second half of the season on point, and I felt like I didn't start the way I'd envisioned. But today, we picked up some of the pieces.Daniel Ricciardo said
The Aussie reckoned that Alpine had faced off their woes as Pierre Gasly finished P9. On the other hand, he explained that despite Fernando Alonso securing a solitary point, he was near the Aston Martins and fended off Lance Stroll to claim a P12 finish. This urged him to assert that the team was doing okay in terms of performance, as with a subpar qualifying from Saturday, they were able to make positions by the end of the race.
Laurent Mekies gave his verdict on Daniel Ricciardo’s pace at Dutch GP
Though Ricciardo had a strong race at Zandvoort, the RB outfit was unable to score any points. This was due to the Australian finishing in P12 and Yuki Tsunoda having a terrible race after being put on a two-stopper.
This led team principal Laurent Mekies to admit that the team messed up and commended Ricciardo’s performance.
We tried a few things in the race to make up some positions and took a bit of a risk by putting Yuki on a two-stop race, but it clearly did not work and he was stuck in traffic for most of the race. Daniel had a good go at staying with the Astons in front all race long and drove a strong, consistent race, but this was not enough to get points today. It was not the smoothest weekend for us but one that we will certainly learn from as a Team, and we will come back stronger.Laurent Mekies said in the press release by the team
The Frenchman elaborated that their experiment with Tsunoda did not pay any dividend. On the other hand, with the Australian, they were able to portray the car’s strengths and applauded him for driving a consistent race while battling the Aston Martins.
Apart from this, RB is in a close battle with Haas for a sixth-place finish in the constructor’s standings. Thus, the Faenza-based outfit would hope for a better race next week as they would like to bring points in front of their home fans and increase their lead in the constructor’s standings.
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Geetansh Pasricha
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