Daniel Ricciardo left frustrated as VSC gives Rosberg a helping hand
Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated in Austin after a Virtual Safety Car period gave Nico Rosberg a break and cost the Red Bull driver a potential second place.
Rosberg was destined to have to pass on track after losing out to Ricciardo at the start, but the VSC – triggered when his own teammate Max Verstappen stopped – allowed Rosberg to lose a lot less time when he pitted. He was thus able to jump ahead of Ricciardo.
The Australian had done a great job to get ahead of Rosberg at Turn One.
“I think the actual launch itself didn’t seem that much stronger than the Mercedes on the soft tires,” said Ricciardo. “So I was hoping it would go a bit better. But then Nico opted to go to the outside so I had some room on the inside there. I got one at least. I was obviously hoping to get two but that was better than nothing and then yeah, I think the first part of the race everyone just seemed to have similar pace.
“I guess Lewis was probably controlling it at the front but we seemed at that stage to be able to hold on to second and then the Virtual Safety Car, I think we lost 10 seconds it worked out to be, with Nico. I believe after the pit stops we would have had about five seconds on him. And then after the virtual safety car he had close to five seconds on me so that was frustrating, I guess. It just would have been interesting, even if he caught me at the end, just to at least have a fight.
“I think the race, after the virtual safety car, became a bit... not that exciting. I guess without it, it would have made it a bit more spicy at the end. That was that. Unfortunately third was the outcome, but it was still nice to be on the podium. It’s a cool place, I’ve always loved it here for everything: the anthem before the race kind of gives you goose bumps and then the crowd, obviously on the podium is pretty cool. It’s been a good weekend.”
Ricciardo is hopeful that Red Bull has a chance to push Mercedes in the remaining races.
“I think looking at it, on paper I would say Abu Dhabi is probably where I fancy my best chances. It’s been a strong circuit for me and I think us as a team have normally been pretty good there so that’s probably one.
“Mexico is still new. I think the surface is going to be a lot different when we go there next week, it will be more rubbered in. I think it’s going to be a completely different track to last year and we will see. Brazil, it’s been a while since we had the sort of magical Brazil downpour so maybe we can get one of those this year and have a chance. We’ll keep trying, keep doing what we can. Obviously they’re hard to beat but maybe next time the virtual safety car will help us out.”
