An exhaust problem was the cause for Daniel Ricciardo‘s early retirement on Sunday’s German Grand Prix with it being his fourth retirement this season in what has been a tough first season at the Enstone based marque as they slipped to sixth in the constructor’s standings behind Scuderia Toro Rosso
The Australian who had qualified thirteenth and was struggling down in that position, when smoke billowed from his Renault F1 Team’s engine on lap 13 forcing him to stop in front of the Mercedes stand and in the process bringing out the virtual safety car which caused his teammate Nico Hulkenberg to dive for the pits for fresh tyres.
”I could see a lot of smoke coming out from the back of the car and that was our day done, it’s certainly a shame” said Ricciardo.
Nevertheless, Ricciardo enjoyed watching the race as a spectator in the Renault’s garage and believed he could have got points in the changing conditions.
”I watched the rest of the race and it looked a lot of fun out there, I would have loved to have been racing as there were opportunities for big points”.
Despite the retirement in Germany, Ricciardo was upbeat for Renault’s chances of getting points in Hungary.
”It’s disappointing but we’ll move on to next week, It’s a tough overall result for the team, but hopefully, Hungary will be better for us.”
Ricciardo is now eleventh in the driver’s championship as the series heads to Hungary the site of where Ricciardo took a stunning comeback victory in 2014 during his first year at Red Bull Racing and with it his second Grand Prix victory.
