Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Red Bull relief at overcoming penalties for points

Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat managed to overcome huge engine change penalties and finish Monza with both cars in the points.

The Italian GP was never going to be a stand-out race for Red Bull after the team managed to incur a combined penalty of 85 grid places for their two drivers, and in the circumstances the team was more than happy to see both cars finish the race successfully and in the top ten.

“It was a great result for the team considering where we started and the characteristics of this track," said Daniel Ricciardo, who started the race from 19th place on the grid but battled his way up to eighth by the finish.

"It was sweet taking that eighth place on the last lap from Ericsson," grinned the Australian. "It wasn’t an easy weekend for us, but I think the race was positive and the energy in the team is good.

"I am very happy with the chassis, the car was handling really well, and we were able to fight with a Ferrari and a Mercedes-powered car on a track where we lost out a lot on the straights," he pointed out.

Team mate Daniil Kvyat was also happy to get Monza in the books and move on to the next race in Singapore, which should better suit the RB11 and where he won't have to overcome the avalanche of penalties that left him starting Sunday's race down in 18th position.

"Monza was always going to be a tough weekend for us," he said after finishing in tenth place. "Our race wasn’t too bad considering where we started on the track, because of our penalties.

"I didn’t see much action during the race but it was a positive result to finish in the points, down to good teamwork.

"We’ll have to come back stronger in Singapore, where the track characteristics should suit us better."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.