Ricciardo ‘proud’ as Red Bull stakes claim to stay

Daniel Ricciardo says he is “proud” of Red Bull, saying the team is “maximising everything” as it tries to secure its F1 future.

Red Bull was expecting to be uncompetitive in the Russian Grand Prix due to the engine demands at the Sochi Autodrom, but Ricciardo ran in fourth place for much of the second half of the race before having to retire late on. With Daniil Kvyat still finishing fifth, Ricciardo says the team is proving how strong it is, which he hopes will convince his bosses to protect its future in F1.

“Right now I am disappointed we missed out a good opportunity on definitely one of our weaker circuits,” Ricciardo said. “But putting the disappointment aside, we can be proud. It was a really good race. And with the tools we had we were maximising everything at the moment.

“Mr. [Dietrich] Mateschitz and all the guys in the team, the ones who are making the decisions, know what the story is.”

And Ricciardo believes he showed his own fighting spirit with his performance in Sochi as he held off faster cars for a number of laps.

“I knew we were going to try to go to the end. The track is strange. You can start sliding around but the tyre still has life in it. You just have to drive through it, try and be smooth and it wasn’t easy being smooth when you have a Williams and Ferrari breathing down your neck. Especially when they get the DRS it is a massive advantage.

“I held on long enough. I mean obviously I tried to go as long as I could. We were looking good, we were looking strong, and we put ourselves in a really nice position, and it was just unlucky and unfortunate that we had the suspected suspension failure.”

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AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix

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