Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was disappointed to see Daniel Ricciardo retire from the Russian Grand Prix after the Australian nearly made a bold strategy call work.
Lining up only 10th on the Sochi grid, Ricciardo was overhauled at the start by team-mate Daniil Kvyat. When the Safety Car came out on Lap 12 in the wake of Romain Grosjean’s heavy crash, Red Bull elected to pit the Australian.
Ricciardo was then able to climb all the way up to P4 by making the most of his soft Pirelli tyres while the other pit stops shook out. The 26-year-old was on course to bag a strong haul of points haul when he had to withdraw with a mechanical issue a few laps before the end.
“It was a real shame for Daniel,” said Horner. “We took a risk on an early Safety Car to go for an early stop onto the harder tyre.
“And thereafter he made it work fantastically, keeping the faster cars of Bottas and Raikkonen behind him, until losing time with a backmarker, which allowed Bottas to get through.
“Shortly after that, the car developed what we suspect is a suspension issue, which caused his retirement.”
Kvyat had a fairly quiet afternoon in his home event but was able to pick up a few positions in the closing stages to secure sixth on the road, which would later become P5 due to Kimi Raikkonen’s post-race penalty.
Speaking after the grand prix, the Russian actually questioned Red Bull’s decision not to give him pit stop priority over Ricciardo despite leading his team-mate on track.
“For Daniil, we elected to split the strategies when the Safety Car came out and left him on a more conventional strategy,” explained Horner.
“After a relatively lonely second half of the race, finishing P5 is a respectable result.”
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