Ricciardo: Better than P7 possible in Mexico without red flag

Daniel Ricciardo was happy overall with his solid run in the points in the Mexican Grand Prix, but the Aussie reckons that he could have finished higher than P7 without the race’s red flag interruption.

Ricciardi had warned after qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez that his fourth fastest time in the shootout ‘was no fluke’, and that he would get his elbows out at the start without taking undue risk.

The AlphaTauri charger made good on both those assertions as he steered clear from the commotion at the first corner, then put his head down and held his own among the top five, having conceded fourth to Lewis Hamilton after ten laps.

But on lap 34, everyone’s race was reset following Kevin Magnussen’s heavy crash – from which the fortunately emerged unscathed – that triggered a red flag.

Again, Ricciardo enjoyed a clean opening lap on the restart but conceded fifth to George Russell’s faster medium-shod Mercedes before a charging Norris also gained the upper hand over the AlphaTauri.

• Read also: F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2023 Mexican GP

Given the circumstances and the tyre advantage handed to some drivers by the race’s red flag, Ricciardo believed that he had made the most of what was thrown his way, although he admitted that he could have scored another point or two in an uninterrupted race.

“I think everything was actually working pretty well,” he commented. “Honestly the red flag I think hurt us.

But I don’t want to say it too selfishly, because there was a big accident, I believe a car failure, so nothing Kevin could do.

“Yes, as much as that hurt our race, I would like to think because strategy and everything was looking pretty smooth, obviously the main thing is he’s OK.

“It obviously bunched everyone up and allowed some cars to use the Mediums, which we didn’t have.

“So yeah. I think at that point, it was probably a bit more nervous on [the] pit wall, but to still come out with seventh and six points, and nearly eight points, we got very close to George at the end, I think big picture, we have to be very happy.”

In the closing stages of the race, Ricciardo had closed the gap to Russell, but overtaking the Merecdes driver was a tall order. He nevertheless gave it his best shot on the final round but came up short at Turn 4.

“I was honestly trying as much as I could,” he explained. “It was a little weird, at the start of the stint, I didn’t feel as good as towards the end. It felt like it took me a little bit to get a rhythm with the tyre.

“Then the last probably 10 laps, I was able to really start pushing harder, and yeah, I think Lando getting George probably hurt George’s tyres a little bit, so that brought him back to me.

“It was tough. I probably didn’t expect to get that close. When you’re that close, you’re like ah, we could’ve! But he protected well in Turn 4. At one point, I was trying to go on the outside, but I could see we were both going to run off and had to abort mission. He did well, he did well to defend.

“We tried, but yeah. I think ultimately, just to be battling a Mercedes at the end, that makes me more happy than just missing out on sixth.”

Contemplating what could have been without the event’s mid-race interruption, Ricciardo believes he could have finished higher. But he also admitted that things could have been worse.

“I don’t know if Lando’s pace in that second half of the race was as good as the first half,” he said. “Yeah, we were let’s say holding Oscar [Piastri] at bay.

“We had gaps… it felt like at that moment, I was like, this could be a nice, lonely fifth place, and I was OK with that.

“I definitely think we could have been better than seventh, let’s say that, without the red. That’s racing.

“On one hand, you could say unlucky, but it can always be worse. The restart we could have had a crash or something, so to still come through, I’m happy.”

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