As he arrived in the Suzuka paddock, Daniel Ricciardo was still basking in the halo of his Malaysia triumph, but the Red Bull driver vowed to put it all behind and focus on the job at hand.
Ricciardo admitted the buzz had not yet worn off completely on Thursday morning, but another 24 hours and it woudl be gone.
"Everyone has made me feel really good today in the paddock," said the smiling Aussie.
" So it still feels good but I am not going to hang on to it. By tomorrow when I get in the car I will reset and start from the beginning – a new weekend. It’s been nice, it’s been good. A good few days."
Shedding some light on his fourth career victory, Ricciardo highlighted the intensity of his wheel-to-wheel battle at one point with team mate Max Verstappen.
"It felt like it was on the edge, but at the same time I didn’t at one point think, okay we are going to crash here. I think we are both in control.
"So it was fun. At that point, did I think it would be for the win? Probably not. But I was obviously going to hang on as long as I could. But it was fun."
While the spectacular scrap between the two team mates was a treat for all to watch, Ricciardo says it was good it happened at all as the Red Bull pit wall let the duo fight at will despite Verstappen's tentative strategy advantage.
"To be honest, Lewis was going to win the race whatever was going to happen with pit stop windows and that. Even if Max had stayed in front if Lewis pitted, then especially on fresh tires, let alone the same tires but fresh tires, Lewis would have made it quite easy work.
"So it was great that the team let us race. In my head I had not calculated the strategy at that stage, so I didn’t think that…it didn’t come across my mind that the team would say let Max past.
"For me it was full racing. So I didn’t really expect a call anyway, and obviously I didn’t get it. It was cool. I am sure when we were coming into Turn 5…from the outside some of the camera angles made Turn 5 look the closest.
"The team was just waiting for both of us to spear off. But it was good fun. It was nice to actually be given the chance to race like that, and to also show the team that we can be sensible in the heat of battle and the heat of the moment."
Scene at the Malaysian Grand Prix
2016 Malaysian Grand Prix - Quotes of the week
Breakfast with... Gianni Morbidelli
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