Daniel Ricciardo was left to rue a late race suspension issue that saw him retire while running inside the top four at the Sochi Autodrom, but the Australian driver admitted he was happy with how he drove on Sunday.
The Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver had been looking good to make the most of a risky strategy call after gambling on a pit stop during the second safety car period, but was forced to pull off to the side of the track with just a handful of laps remaining while on course for a good haul of points.
Despite this, Ricciardo was pleased to be battling hard with the Williams and Ferrari teams after not expecting to be able to match them this weekend.
“I’m happy with how I drove but it’s a shame we don’t have any points to show for it,” said Ricciardo. “The risky strategy was working well and we were looking good to earn some decent points.
“We’re not sure what happened, we suspect it’s a suspension issue. I came out of turn four and I felt something was not right and I reported back to the team.
“The team will investigate the issue but I think considering we weren’t expecting too much from this track, we can be pleased that we were racing with the faster cars of Williams and Ferrari and managed to keep them behind us for a good while.”
