Saturday 25 March 2017.
World Copyright: Andy Hone/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _ONY1887
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo had a weekend to forget in home grand Prix at Albert Park.
The Australian crashed in qualifying which meant he started from tenth on the grid: “That was a tough one today. I don’t crash into the barriers often and the last place I want to do that is at home.
“I feel I crashed for the right reason, as I was basically pushing and trying to find the limit and things happen, so let’s say I’m not disappointed by the approach, it was just more of a frustrating outcome, starting 10th instead of being under the top 5.”
Things did not get any better for the home favourite as he suffered issues with his car that caused Ricciardo to not complete the race, Red Bull principal Christian Horner said: “A really frustrating start to the race with Daniel having a problem with what looks like a sensor on the gearbox stopping the car in sixth gear on the formation lap.”
Max Verstappen had a solid but unspectacular race as the Dutchmen finished fifth:” The start was really good but it was just a shame that out of turn one I had dirty air ahead of me, this allowed Kimi to stay on the outside and get in front of me again.
“From then on the pace wasn’t too bad, I could follow him pretty well which was a nice surprise and I had no pressure from behind me. It was positive to see we weren’t that far from Ferrari and Mercedes over a full race distance, this was a concern this morning but I’m relieved now to finish within touching distance.”
Dominic Rust