If there was an award for the star of the Hungarian Grand Prix (other than the winner) then Daniel Ricciardo would get the accolade as almost single-handed he dispatched of the Mercedes pair on his way to third place on the Hungaroring podium after an incident packed race. He spoke afterwards.
The honey badger is on the podium. Lots of tough fighting today. How tough was the fighting on track for you?
Daniel Ricciardo: It was a crazy race. There was contact in Turn One, I thought there was a lot of damage, I thought the race was over. Then contact on the restart with Lewis, I thought the race was probably over and then contact with Nico as well. We were resilient today. I left it all on the track. Let’s say I put my heart into everything today. I think that’s the way Jules would have wanted it, so I owe that race to him and I’m very grateful to be on the podium, it’s feels like a victory. It’s been a long time, a long season for me, so I feel that I gained some strength today and I owe this one to me. Yeah, that’s it.
Daniel Ricciardo: It was a crazy race. There was contact in Turn One, I thought there was a lot of damage, I thought the race was over. Then contact on the restart with Lewis, I thought the race was probably over and then contact with Nico as well. We were resilient today. I left it all on the track. Let’s say I put my heart into everything today. I think that’s the way Jules would have wanted it, so I owe that race to him and I’m very grateful to be on the podium, it’s feels like a victory. It’s been a long time, a long season for me, so I feel that I gained some strength today and I owe this one to me. Yeah, that’s it.
Did you think you would keep the third position? We have to talk about this, because it was a really tough manoeuvre between the two of you?
DR: I came from a long way back. We know we don’t have the speed on the straight, so… I knew we were quick enough to win. I saw Seb wasn’t getting away, so I thought if I could get Nico I could probably get Seb, so the laps were counting down, I saw a gap and I went for it. At that stage the move was clean and then it just looked like Nico cut back on the exit and came across and just… I guess I didn’t have enough room and we touched. I touched his tyre and he touched my wing. It was close. It’s disappointing, we both obviously ruined our chances of a win but I wanted to leave it all out there.
DR: I came from a long way back. We know we don’t have the speed on the straight, so… I knew we were quick enough to win. I saw Seb wasn’t getting away, so I thought if I could get Nico I could probably get Seb, so the laps were counting down, I saw a gap and I went for it. At that stage the move was clean and then it just looked like Nico cut back on the exit and came across and just… I guess I didn’t have enough room and we touched. I touched his tyre and he touched my wing. It was close. It’s disappointing, we both obviously ruined our chances of a win but I wanted to leave it all out there.
You’ve told us that, other than winning, you love fierce battles. You had those today but is it a bit bittersweet that you saw second and maybe first sort-of slip away?
DR: Yes, it’s a lot of mixed emotions about many things right now. Firstly, I’m definitely still grateful to be on the podium. It’s been, I guess, a long year, a tough one definitely. All of a sudden to find two of our cars on the podium, it’s pretty surreal. But yeah, I knew I could have sat in third and accepted that but knowing that I had the pace – I had the Option, compared to Seb and Nico on the Prime – I had an opportunity to do something about it. It was nearly like Déjà vu, nearly like the end of the race last year. Basically I’ve come third before, I thought ‘we have a chance to win,’ so I went for it. I guess it’s a bit of a shame how it ended up but at the same time I don’t regret anything I did on track today. I definitely left it all on there and I thought I drove with a heavy but a strong heart, and that makes me happy. Definitely no regrets.
DR: Yes, it’s a lot of mixed emotions about many things right now. Firstly, I’m definitely still grateful to be on the podium. It’s been, I guess, a long year, a tough one definitely. All of a sudden to find two of our cars on the podium, it’s pretty surreal. But yeah, I knew I could have sat in third and accepted that but knowing that I had the pace – I had the Option, compared to Seb and Nico on the Prime – I had an opportunity to do something about it. It was nearly like Déjà vu, nearly like the end of the race last year. Basically I’ve come third before, I thought ‘we have a chance to win,’ so I went for it. I guess it’s a bit of a shame how it ended up but at the same time I don’t regret anything I did on track today. I definitely left it all on there and I thought I drove with a heavy but a strong heart, and that makes me happy. Definitely no regrets.
Here is a circuit where the power of the engine doesn’t have as great importance. Can you analyse the development of Renault and the development of the chassis?
DR: I think that what’s been the most positive thing about this weekend is from Friday morning, first run on the track, the car felt good. I think it’s the first race in a long time where we haven’t really touched the balance throughout the weekend. We haven’t been chasing our tail, the car had more feeling about it this weekend, at least from my side. I felt like I could dictate the balance a bit more and position the car more where I wanted to. It’s quite a bumpy circuit. I felt the car was behaving well over the bumps, even comparing to last year I thought we definitely made some progress. Even though for sure this circuit suits our car more, I did feel like we’ve taken a step forward and the updates and everything we brought over the last two races, we made them work in the right way this weekend so definitely a lot of positives and yeah, it’s nice to have I guess a smile on both of our faces but also the team, give them some positivity coming into the break now. I’m sure Spa... you know there’s more straights there but I’m sure we can still be strong. We’re going to be enjoying the second sector a lot. It was a pretty good circuit for us last year. I think we’ve made some good progress nonetheless even though it’s track specific.
DR: I think that what’s been the most positive thing about this weekend is from Friday morning, first run on the track, the car felt good. I think it’s the first race in a long time where we haven’t really touched the balance throughout the weekend. We haven’t been chasing our tail, the car had more feeling about it this weekend, at least from my side. I felt like I could dictate the balance a bit more and position the car more where I wanted to. It’s quite a bumpy circuit. I felt the car was behaving well over the bumps, even comparing to last year I thought we definitely made some progress. Even though for sure this circuit suits our car more, I did feel like we’ve taken a step forward and the updates and everything we brought over the last two races, we made them work in the right way this weekend so definitely a lot of positives and yeah, it’s nice to have I guess a smile on both of our faces but also the team, give them some positivity coming into the break now. I’m sure Spa... you know there’s more straights there but I’m sure we can still be strong. We’re going to be enjoying the second sector a lot. It was a pretty good circuit for us last year. I think we’ve made some good progress nonetheless even though it’s track specific.
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