Verstappen and Ricciardo rue bad luck and lack of pace

It simply wasn't one of the best day at the races for Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Verstappen had been running in fifth place when he spun out on lap 46 and was forced to retire with a brake-by-wire issue.

"Fortunately I did not hit anything at the start," said last week's race winner. "Then on the first lap I hit the brakes in turn three and the pedal fell to the floor. I received a warning about a brake-by-wire problem at that moment.

"After that it recovered, which was very weird. Usually it’s done when something like that happens. Later on, we were able to pick up speed again.

"Then after the second safety car I braked for turn 16 and the pedal just literally went to the floor," he explained. "The rear brakes locked up and I spun off the track.

"When I wanted to drive away the car was stuck in the first gear. I think it was an electronic problem with the brake-by-wire and not something with the gearbox."

The opening laps had seen Verstappen in an impressive duel with Kimi Raikkonen. But he admitted that once the race settled down, the Red Bull simply didn't have the pace to challenge either the Ferrari or Mercedes drivers.

"After the first safety car I had the fight with Kimi which was beautiful in itself," he said. "But it's just incredibly frustrating how much slower we are on the straights.

"I think you could see with Daniel also like when he was attacking Bottas, when we opened the DRS we had the same speed as them without DRS so you can't do anything.

"Even after the safety cars, when we’re like drag racing, we were very slow. That’s very frustrating."

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Verstappen's team mate concurred with his view.

"We didn't have the legs," Ricciardo admitted. "I could get close - I mean, I could get within a distance - but then I couldn't get any closer. It just started to kill my tyres getting close to him.

"Just a bit tricky to follow and then if we don't get the exit off the corner then they've got quite a few ponies."

Ricciardo tried to gain a strategic advantage by making a surprise second pit stop on lap 31. But that gambit was neutralised when a safety car was deployed two laps later, which enabled both Ferraris to pit for a second stop of their own.

"We pitted pretty last minute and then the safety car came out, so we lost positions there," he sighed. "We were just a bit unlucky I guess.

"Since Monaco we haven't really had things go our way. I'll still take the Monaco win but I don't want that to be the last hurrah.

"The triple header, every race there was something which wasn't going our way," he added. "We've just had bits and pieces not go our way for the last three [races].

"We'll just try and turn around in Hockenheim and Budapest, but I'm looking forward to a week away from race cars," he said, clearly feeling the strain of three consecutive race weekends. "I'm actually looking forward to a week off now."

Verstappen felt much the same as his senior colleague.

"It's not a nice way to finish the triple-header, but fortunately the last race was good and the two races before that too.

"This is racing sometimes. I have seen it before and it will happen in the future, but of course I'd have preferred to finish fifth here, at least to collect some points, because now we have nothing."

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