Ricciardo satisfied by “calculated” win

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo said his third F1 win was due to a more calculating approach than his previous two victories.

Ricciardo won the Canadian and Hungarian Grands Prix after making late passes for the lead, but held on to first place in Belgium by making one pit stop fewer than Nico Rosberg.

“It was difficult staying out at the end of the race,” said Ricciardo.

“When you’re the leader as well you always feel like you’re the most vulnerable when it comes to a pit stop or not, but Simon [Rennie] my engineer came on the radio and said I think it’s 11 laps left, can these tyres get to the end?

“And I said I think I can keep more or less this pace, and we were able to. Then on the last lap I found a couple more tenths, so I was having a bit of fun then.

“There’s been a lot of good things about the win today, obviously the last two came from a more aggressive style of race, but today was more calculated and it was nice to win under different circumstances.”

Red Bull had been expected to struggle on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit due to its long straights and their car’s lack of horsepower. “Everyone was saying we didn’t really have a chance around here,” said Ricciardo, “but I think we had some really good pace today and surprised ourselves”.

“It feels a bit surreal, but another win is very cool, very cool.”

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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29 comments on “Ricciardo satisfied by “calculated” win”

  1. Dan, once again, did a great job. He picks up every opportunity and utilizes his speed and ability to nurse his tyres very well. If the combination of R11 chassis with Renault’s power unit next year is a bit better than this year and Daniel Ricciardo keeps his form, he will be fighting for WDC.

    1. He is a bit like Alonso, regarding grabbing every opportunity.

    2. He’s fighting for the WDC right now. Rather well.

      1. His winning mentality is also very impressive

    3. @jcost I agree…. I think the most telling stat is, that if you take out the first two races (Ricciardo got DQ’d in Melbourne and lost the tyre in the pits in Malaysia), then the standings would be: Rosberg 177, Hamilton 166, Ricciardo 156.

      He would have gotten 3rd in Bahrain too, if not starting with the grid penalty from Malaysia.. that would give 159! 7 points behind Hamilton?! That would give Hamilton & Rosberg 8 podiums, Ricciardo 7 podiums…. give him a better PU, and Ricciardo could easily bring home the WDC. A definite favourite for 2015.

      1. @fastiesty or if Chilton and Guttierez were in those Mercedesses they would become champions?

        1. @xtwl Definitely not, although they might pick up some wins and podiums. What I meant was that if Ricciardo has a car similar enough to Mercedes in engine power, that he will probably pick up the WDC via consistency and no mistakes – a bit like Alonso pulling the Ferrari into WDC title contention in 2012.

      2. I fully agree Daniel has been my man from the start and Sebastian did a great job defending whenever he had opportunity overall a great TEAM effort and as far as I see it team is forefront Hamilton has no grasp of that concept I give Rosberg all respect for tolerating his teamates noncence this year Go Daniel

  2. The battle for best-of-the-rest has been immensely close, yet it’s always Ricciardo who capitalises when things go wrong for Mercedes. He’s the real deal.

    Interestingly all of his wins have happened despite starting behind his teammate. Have to say Vettel missed a golden opportunity here. He messed up his shot at leading on lap 1, losing 2nd place to Rosberg in the process and then another error lost him a place to Ricciardo. I wonder if Dan can maintain his advantage over Seb when Red Bull get back on top.

  3. Two of his three victories was on circuits that the Red Bull had a disadvantage considering the Renault PU. If it wasn’t for the overwhelming performance of the Merc works team, I would’ve given Daniel here a pretty good chance to win the WDC in his first year in Red Bull.

    Ricciardo a future WDC? If I was a betting man, I’d bet on it.

    1. Why future if the Current situation goes like it is , i expect him to win the WDC this year.
      Go Ricci

  4. Looks like Red Bull chose right with the low downforce setting, Ferrari by comparison went backwards. They don’t get enough praise for their strategy and race prep, probably the best team on the grid in that regard.

    1. Agreed @george.. It’s what made their domination look more complete than Mercedes’, even if their car in 2011 and 2013 was only half as dominant or less than the 2014 Mercedes.

    2. @george They have been, since 2009, second to none. They make mistakes but they don’t only say they will learn from it, you see they learnt indeed.

  5. Everyone is acting like the WCC is a foregone conclusion. I know 2 people for whom it is not so, and that is Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda. If ROS and HAM keep knocking each other around, and Danny Boy keeps swooping in to pick up the scraps, with double points in the last race he could make it very interesting. This guy is the real deal– clearly has all the driving tools and mental maturity beyond his age and experience. He is cool and clear thinking, able to think tactically and strategically during the heat of battle, and actually looks like he is having fun. He will be a GREAT champion, Senna-esque in his popularity, if he just keeps doing what he’s doing and they give him the car he needs (which seems likely next year).

    1. Daniel will soon be a Champ and deservedy so pretty cool under pressure and as far as I am concerned that was his 4th victory

  6. Hamilton could learn a thing or two about Ricciardo his attitude.

  7. You have got that right I am still celebrating Daniels and team victory could not be happier maybe a bit more if Sebastian came 2nd would have been nice Bottas also strong and a great competetor

  8. Still not beleiving how crowd booed Rosberg at final. Hamilton finally gets a taste of his own medicine and finds it sour. Rosberg fought back for his postion.Many times before he has been the recipient of Hamiltons me at all cost attitude

  9. Did DanRic call horner ” big homie” on the radio ,
    Bhahahaaaaaa

    Classic

  10. One thing I’ve noticed is that when Dan has won, Helmut Marko has actually had a smile on his face (compared to when Webber won for RBR when the look on his face often read like “What’s he doing winning? It should have been Seb”). I wonder though if its because of Dans or if its because with Seb struggling (of sorts), and wins are harder to come by now that he’s just happy his team has won?

    Either way, another great win by the young Aussie :-)

    1. @holdenv8 Both Seb and Dan came through the Red Bull Junior team headed by Marko, unlike Webber.

  11. Cheers to Daniel Ricciardo! He is such a breath of fresh air. Great talent and aggressive driving when it makes sense. I would love to see him win WDC. Stranger things have happened. :-)

  12. Great Driving Daniel , I can say Vet and RIC line up is looking like Best or 2nd best Line up if you say Kimi and Fred are best(with out a decent car ofcourse). If Dan wins the WDC by chance(yes a big luck is needed for him considering the MERC advantage as we all know) that would mean RBR have 2 WDC’s from their YDP.

  13. Races won from lower than 3rd;
    Vettel – 0.
    Ricciardo – 2.

    1. “Riccardo – 3”
      Started 6th in Canada, 4th in Hungary and 5th in Belgium

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