HRT: Ricciardo shines during late rain shower

2011 Hungarian GP team review

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Daniel Ricciardo finished ahead of his team mate and a Virgin in his third Grand Prix, and showed good pace during the wet period late in the race.

Daniel RicciardoVitantonio Liuzzi
Qualifying position2221
Qualifying time comparison (Q1)1’26.479 (+0.156)1’26.323
Race position1820
Laps66/7065/70
Pit stops35

HRT drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970
Daniel Ricciardo130.919115.946112.653110.349109.487108.126107.573106.378105.815106.079105.715105.599107.816124.6697.46693.27292.75295.48695.16192.87592.7192.54993.92194.35793.59693.68893.734101.566118.48390.13990.07190.59292.06190.98191.67292.16194.65493.4791.37991.58392.88395.761105.853120.55393.66993.525103.568103.54698.69293.81891.7890.20590.11590.68689.05791.26991.34591.22989.53491.33789.26788.87689.24889.22289.20495.795
Vitantonio Liuzzi144.729115.128112.901110.744109.069108.302107.723107.198106.807106.907105.98108.22127.30299.05595.9296.03292.80493.06193.13297.98893.32793.72693.07793.04295.92112.24691.50794.24593.38391.62492.26595.0492.04491.86294.14293.89294.541118.4791.25592.83491.59291.26491.27296.99195.18293.59106.76106.578119.689100.849105.207112.71389.20893.30489.6390.06791.05291.41390.55190.92291.29391.19289.84690.93790.971
Daniel Ricciardo, HRT, Hungaroring, 2011

Daniel Ricciardo

A tenth of a second off Liuzzi in qualifying, Ricciardo clearly had his sights set on beating his team mate: “When you see that the times are so close it is a little bit frustrating to not be one spot ahead,” he said.

Ricciardo’s lap times were on a par with Liuzzi’s during the race in the dry. Unlike his team mate, Ricciardo did not switch to intermediate tyres during the late shower.

At this point his laps were far quicker than Timo Glock’s, the closest driver to him on slick tyres, albeit ones that had done a stint’s service.

Perhaps more significantly for Ricciardo, his lap times also compared favourably with those of the two Toro Rosso drivers, both of whom stayed on slicks. Compare all their lap times here.

He brought the car home in front of Jerome d’Ambrosio, who’d been ahead of him until the rain started to fall.

Ricciardo declared himself “satisfied” with his performance, saying: “I feel we are progressing well; Silverstone to Nurburgring was a very big step and this time we have taken another good step.

“I want to be ahead of our main rivals and prove I can go the distance in the race. The most positive thing today was that we made the right decisions with pit stops, so we need to try and stay in this path.”

Daniel Ricciardo 2011 form guide

Vitantonio Liuzzi

Liuzzi damaged his front wing in qualifying and hovered worryingly near to the 107% mark before putting in a lap good enough to beat his team mate and d’Ambrosio.

But his race went wrong at the start: “We got off to a good start until someone hit me from behind coming out of the chicane, causing me to spin. I lost a lot of time there and then the balance of the car wasn’t ideal.”

He also had more problems with the front wing: “We suffered again a problem with the front wing and the front tyres were suffering a lot as a result of this. We replaced the nose and the tyres but we still were suffering from massive understeer.”

Liuzzi had just got back in front of his team mate when the rain began to fall late in the race, and his switch to intermediate tyres and then back to slicks left him last.

Vitantonio Liuzzi 2011 form guide

2011 Hungarian Grand Prix

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    23 comments on “HRT: Ricciardo shines during late rain shower”

    1. I think that the big stars who will be contending for wins and championships in the future will be vettel, Ricciardo, and Di Resta. Those 3 drivers are for me performing at a much higher level than their team-mates at the moment, who themselves are incredibly fast

      1. Not Hamilton nor Alonso nor anyone else whos yet to come into F1?

        Before 07 in was Alonso and Raikkonen, then from 07-09 it was ‘Alonso and Hamilton are the future’ then 09-11 ‘Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel are the future’ etc…

        I wouldnt’ be suprised if some mentioned there (like vettel) don’t turn out brilliant while others come through and take over.

        Vergne – new rookie
        Ricciardo – already beating L
        Di Resta – some bad some good
        Kobayashi – was fast and banzai in 2009 now calm and fast.
        Perez – ???
        Petrov – great improvement from Season 1 to 2, could it be again for 3?
        Van der Garde
        Bianchi
        Guiterez (spelling)
        Pic
        Wickens – FR3.5 in first attempt possibly
        Grosjean

        All could or could not be F1 WDC contenders in the future.

        But 5 years ago everyone would have called you mad if you said the WDC was going to be between Hamilton (who?), Vettel (who?), Webber (the guy with bad luck in a Williams), Button (guy who had a year of good at the start and is langwishing in 300th each GP in a honda) and Alonso (in a Ferrari.. abahahaha) while Raikkonen is in NASCAR and WRC and Schumacher who loves Ferrari is in a Mercedes? and unretired! ***!

        Point is, don’t judge the future from the past

        1. Fernando Cruz
          1st August 2011, 14:03

          Add Senna and Hulkenberg to that list.

          Senna only needs the right chance to shine as he was almost as quick as Button the first time he was behind the wheel of a f1 car and as fast as Heidfeld in Jerez with the same rubber.

          Also, don’ t forget Kubica can recover and still be the driver he was before his accident.

        2. Esteban Manuel Gutiérrez Gutiérrez

      2. Douglas 62500
        1st August 2011, 10:52

        How about Kobayashi ?? Or perhaps, assume that the immense speed hasn’t been lost, Kubica ?

      3. I wouldn’t say Ricciardo and Di Resta are performing at a much higher level than their team-mates. Liuzzi is still probably the man at HRT. Di Resta has shown pace, but not the best racecraft, and he is behind Sutil in the championship.

      4. I’m not a Hamilton fanatic, but why not Hamilton? He’s only a year younger than Hamilton…

      5. I’m not a Hamilton fanatic, but why not Hamilton as well? Di Resta is only a year younger…

        1. Stupid browser. I was also meant to reply to the first comment. Now it looks like spam :P

    2. An “air weekend” for Tonio… Parts of his car were flying on Friday, Saturday and also Sunday… Made in HRT…

      1. real flying lap

    3. A good race for Ricciardo. It’s good that he can still see places to improve, if only for himself personally. Clear he’s not just happy enough to be in any F1 car…

    4. Perhaps more significantly for Ricciardo, his lap times also compared favourably with those of the two Toro Rosso drivers

      Wow I didn’t know about that. Alguersuari and Buemi will be hoping Helmut Marko doesn’t know about it either!

      1. From when are those laptimes? Because Toro Rossos were losing a lot of time behind Kobayashi.

        1. Laps 50 and 51, when the Toro Rossos were 12-15 seconds behind Kobayashi (see here: 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix race history chart)

          Keep in mind Ricciardo was a lap behind them at this point so you have to offset their laps when you compare them.

          1. Helmut, is that you? :D

            1. I get you mean Helmut Marko but I’m not sure why!

          2. Ah, right. Impressive stuff from Dan.

    5. I think its a bit early to say how good he is. With conditions such as yesterday it is challenging to compare drivers because of the wide variety of tactic. Liuzzi may still be the man to beat in HRT in more stable conditions but nothing is certain just yet.

    6. I always say Liuzzi was part of Red Bull and sponsored by them (like Vettel and Webber, I say), but then I remember also Buemi and Alguersuari are sponsored by Red Bull. Anyway, Ricciardo is very close to him already and is going to beat him some time, sadly.

      1. It’s close, and it is only Race 3 for Ricciardo, so he’s doing ok.

    7. There’a alot of good young drivers coming through that could be battling in future for F1 wins and championships not just Vettel, Di Resta and Ricciardo and most of them are younger than Vettel and Di Resta

      Vergne
      Kobayashi
      Perez
      Grosjean
      Van der Garde
      Bianchi
      Guiterez
      Wickens
      Bortolotti

      All have the potential to be future F1 stars.

      1. I would say keep an eye on Mitch Evans, a young Kiwi that Webber has taken under his wing.

        He has all the signs of becoming a star of the future.

        And I will be showing everyone this page in 10 years when he is driving an F1 car. :)

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