Birthday-boy Daniel Ricciardo left the Red Bull Ring in a disappointed mood after retiring from the Austrian Grand Prix that had the potential of being a Aston Martin Red Bull Racing one-two finish.
After qualifying in seventh place Ricciardo was running as high as second place at one point of the race, and when he was forced to retire, was in fourth.
“I’m obviously disappointed with how the day went.” said the Australian. “At one stage it was looking like a one-two, but in all honesty as soon as we put the softs on it didn’t feel like it gave me much.”
Despite making progress Ricciardo wasn’t sure whether he could have kept the pace to mix it at the front of the pack, “Even though we were able to get Kimi, I didn’t feel like I was able to pull away and then I saw the tyre was getting torn apart. So we had to pit and that put us out of contention for the podium.
“Then we had what I think was a broken exhaust which put me out of the race. I could feel something was wrong down the back straight before the last sector, so I mentioned it and then tried to do a procedure but the call came for me to stop.”
While Ricciardo was forced to exit the race early, team-mate Max Verstappen went on to record Red Bull’s first victory at their home track, something that despite his disappointment of not finishing, Ricciardo was proud of.
“I’m happy for Red Bull today, the team, the brand, the people, and happy for Max who has so many fans here. I saw Mr Mateschitz earlier and I can imagine what he is feeling right now.
“Obviously it’s not my day but from the team’s point of view, for the Austrians and for Max it’s a big day for them, so I’m happy that some part of the team will be celebrating today. I don’t think I’ll celebrate too much for my birthday but you know, maybe a cognac to get over these sniffles!”
