Daniel Ricciardo felt there was nothing he could to avoid contact with Sebastian Vettel at the start of the Mexican Grand Prix, saying “he took the apex as if I wasn’t there”.
From fifth on the grid, the Australian enjoyed a better launch off the line than the Ferrari ahead of him and immediately hunted down his former Red Bull team-mate on the long run to Turn 1. The pair went side by side through the first corner, with Ricciardo eventually clipping Vettel, which resulted in a puncture for the German.
“I was just there and wasn’t necessarily making a move or anything, but at the start you’re all sort of bunched up,” Ricciardo said. “I was just there on the inside, I didn’t feel like I could go anywhere else and he just basically took the apex as if I wasn’t there. I don’t really know what else I could have done.”
Race stewards quickly decided that no further action was warranted in the incident, and Ricciardo was able to spend his afternoon shadowing team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
Both Red Bulls pitted for fresh medium tyres during the late Safety Car period in order to beat the Williams to the final top-three position.
Things did not work out that way, with Valtteri Bottas jumping Kvyat for P3 at the restart and Ricciardo having to settle for fifth in the end. Though aware of Renault’s power deficit to Mercedes-engined Williams, the 26-year-old felt he could have been more competitive had he stayed on Pirelli’s white-marked mediums.
“Both of us had a sniff at a podium today. Dani [Kvyat] was looking pretty good. I thought on the prime [medium], in the middle stint, I had more pace in me but we were in a bit of no man’s land with the Williams and couldn’t pass [Massa] until he suffered really bad tyre deg.
“I thought we had a bit more pace on the prime [medium], but we couldn’t show it. At the restart I thought that was an opportunity but I feel both of us going on to the option [soft] was maybe the wrong thing to do, in hindsight.
“Personally I was comfier on the prime I think and Dani had put the option on, so I should have tried something. We’ll see what the team says, analysing everything and seeing if we could have done anything different, but I think I would have been happier on the prime.”
REPORT: Rosberg holds off Hamilton in Mexican GP as Vettel crashes
AS IT HAPPENED: Mexican Grand Prix
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