Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo says he’s frustrated not to have made it further than the second corner of the race, believing his car was good enough for a podium.
Having made a good start Ricciardo had the run on team-mate Max Verstappen heading towards turn two, and moved to the outside of the corner to overtake. Unfortunately for Ricciardo, Verstappen locked his front tyres and understeered into Ricciardo’s sidepod, causing severe damage to his Red Bull car.
Ricciardo tried to continue but, having struggled through the third corner, lost all control and spun in the middle of the track. Whilst he somehow escaped unscathed, the car did not and he was out on the spot.
Verstappen received the sole blame for this, and was handed a ten-second penalty for causing a collision. He went on to finish the race fifth.
The Australian said whilst the team will discuss the incident later, he’s frustrated not to have shown the car’s podium potential at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“The start wasn’t too bad and I got a good exit out of Turn 1, I saw Bottas on the inside of Turn 2 so knew I had plenty of room on the outside. I thought it was a good place to position myself and protect my position through the turn.
“I felt a hit but couldn’t see who it was, I knew Max was on my inside going into Turn 2 so assumed it must have been him.
“It’s really frustrating as we know our car has been better than sixth all weekend so we went out there to push for a good result and get on the podium. We will discuss the incident in de-brief this evening and me and Max will talk privately also and sort it out.
Ricciardo now faces a long wait before he can get behind the wheel again, with Formula 1’s summer break now underway.
“I would have loved to race today and now I have four weeks to wait until I can get in the car again. It’s a shame to finish the first half of the season and head into the summer break in this way.”
Daniel Ricciardo is fourth in the Driver’s Championship, his lead over Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen cut down to just one point.
