Daniel Ricciardo admits he was left frustrated by a Virtual Safety Car period which cost him a chance of second place in the United States Grand Prix.
A good start saw Ricciardo overtake Nico Rosberg at Turn 1 and hold off the Mercedes during the first part of the race, forcing Rosberg onto an alternate strategy on medium tyres. However, a Virtual Safety Car [VSC] was required to clear Max Verstappen's car on lap 29 and allowed the two Mercedes drivers to save time pitting for a final time, resulting in Rosberg jumping Ricciardo who had already stopped.
Ricciardo says he is unsure if Rosberg would have had the pace to catch him in the final stint but was left annoyed he didn't get the chance to defend the position on track.
“I think the actual launch itself didn’t seem that much stronger than the Mercedes on the soft tyre," Ricciardo said, having started on supersofts. "I was hoping it would go a bit better, but then Nico opted to go to the outside so I had some room on the inside there. I got one at least, I was hoping to get two but that was better than nothing.
"I think the first part of the race everyone seemed to have a pretty similar pace, I guess Lewis was probably controlling it at the front but we seemed at the stage to be able to hold onto second. Then the Virtual Safety Car we lost I think 10 seconds it worked out to be with Nico, so I believe after the pit stops we would have had about five seconds on him and after the Virtual Safety Car he had close to five seconds on me. So that was frustrating."
“It just would have been interesting, even if he caught me at the end, just to at least have a fight. I think the race after the Virtual Safety Car became a bit not that exciting. I guess without it would have made it a bit more spicy at the end. So that was that.
"Unfortunately third was the outcome but it’s still nice to be on the podium. It’s a cool place, I’ve always loved it here. Everything, the anthem before the race kind of gives you goosebumps, and then the crowd obviously on the podium is pretty cool. It’s been a good weekend.”
Asked if it made matters worse that the VSC was triggered by his own team-mate, Ricciardo jokingly replied in a Texan accent: “Absolutely, Sir.
"When I saw Max out there I thought ‘Ah hell, my boy’s done it again!’. Anyways, that was a devestational moment, but we’ll keep soldiering on and we still got some points over Ferrari today so I'm pretty pleased with that.”
Silbermann says ... Taylor should take over F1
Romain Grosjean column: 100 races, now for the wins
PREVIEW: 2016 United States Grand Prix
TECHNICAL - Turbulent Jet Ignition: In the antechamber of F1 power
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Helmut Marko believes that Red Bull and Max Verstappen are unlikely to challenge for victory…
Automotive giant General Motors is reportedly back in the game as a potential entrant in…
The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…
Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…
It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…
Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…