Ricciardo’s performance “unbelievable” – Horner

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed Daniel Ricciardo’s performance in his first qualifying session for the team.

“It was unbelievable for Dan today,” said Horner after his driver qualified on the front row for his home race.

“He’s been so relaxed all weekend. He was on fire though all three qualifying sessions and all credit to him starting his home race and his debut race for us on the front row of the grid.”

Ricciardo, who achieved the best qualifying result of his F1 career with second, said the result exceeded the teams’ expectations ahead of the weekend.

“I’m happy for us to have a front row start – it wasn’t looking like this a few weeks ago, so I’m pretty pleased right now,” he said.

“Q1 looked like it was going okay for us and then, when the rain fell, it’s the first time we’ve driven these cars on the limit in wet conditions,” Ricciardo explained.

“It was tricky, but at the same time a lot of fun and it was nice to always be up there. The engineer was always on the radio saying the pace was good and that we were P1, P2, P3 and in the battle for the pole position, so it was definitely a really nice first qualifying session with the team.

2014 Australian 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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21 comments on “Ricciardo’s performance “unbelievable” – Horner”

  1. He proved to me that he can drive, I had hope and belief in him last season, but I didn’t fully expect him to be on the level and he is. Great job to DR

    1. and, it was not RB10 we saw in bahrain … ^_^

      1. @gunusugeh but it wasn’t nearly as dominant as the Mercs in dry conditions, and the fact that he went toe to toe with two great drivers that are quite good in these conditions in cars that didn’t really test for these conditions show plenty. It didn’t need to be the Bahrain car and RBR with the help of STR got the job done and made a functioning engine map, I mean you didn’t honestly believe they’d show up with the same faulty system two and half weeks ago…did you?

      2. One thing we can take away from Qualifying – Newey knows how to design a high-downforce car! Ideal for wet conditions. Couple that with an underpowered engine, they could jump on it all session without losing the rear-end.

        1. Newey knows how to design a high-downforce car! Ideal for wet conditions.

          Unfortunately that hasn’t also been true.

    2. same tho8 here :)
      im loving’14 already…

  2. Vergne must be livid. Best quali session of his carreer, and yet he is outshone by Ricciardo

    1. Vergne knows he’s in a inferior car and I’m sure he’s very pleased with his result. He has said that the Red Bull situation is a thing of the past

  3. Great qualifying from Ricciardo.

    Gutted Vettel couldn’t use the full power of the RB10. It would have been very interesting to see if he could have been up there with Ricciardo and if maybe he could’ve snatched pole away from Hamilton like he did last year.

    1. vettel will be up there in future races, lets give ricciardo the credit here, driver of the day, and an amazing recovery by redbull from their testing issues.

  4. I am beyond amazed with his performance. I don’t think RBR will have to worry about driver ability being the Achilles heel of their Constructors Championship defense. It looks like Red Bull’s driver development program is paying off past Vettel, it seems to consistently bring the cream to the top. I hope VET and RIC really challenge each other over the season, they can only benefit from it.

  5. I think the rain was a leveller and highlighted how good some cars are aero and mechanically wise, the red bull is certainly at the top and the Ferraris are not that bad despite the result. Toro rosso another renault runner also found speed in the wet on the other hand Williams lost their speed.

  6. Hate to say I told you so…..but… I TOLD YOU SO. #gloat

    1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      15th March 2014, 12:59

      +1

  7. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    15th March 2014, 12:58

    I dont see why so many people are surprised by this. Dan is incredibly quick! The last we know is that his race craft needs a little work, but his natural speed and talent is something to behold. I was disappointed to see so many people on here and elsewhere disregarding Daniel, and saying he was essentially a scrub. The boy can drive!

    Having said that, the main reason Red Bull were so highly competitive today was mostly due to the weather conditions. Since the wet weather acts as an equaliser (<– Yes, that is spelt correctly you stupid American language setting), so it came down to who had the best aero, with engine performance not being such a limiting factor.

    Red Bull, I believe have the best aero package, with Mercedes in a close second, but Mercedes's engine is light years ahead of the Renault at the moment.

    1. “I dont see why so many people are surprised by this. Dan is incredibly quick! The last we know is that his race craft needs a little work, but his natural speed and talent is something to behold.”
      @tophercheese21
      Perhaps Ricciardo is putting to bed the perception that he’s only quick over one lap, the fact that it was wet meant that drivers were out for many laps at a time, and he seemed to be quick throughout. If he’s able to string performances like that together consistently then perhaps we will have a proper battle at Red Bull, which will be extremely entertaining and very much welcomed I’m sure

  8. I for one, am already prepared for one more year of Red Bull dominance, sadly

  9. To be honest, I was somewhat expecting Dan to be very fast in qualy, given that he was very impressive with STR on Saturdays – but nowhere near this quick.

  10. LOL, he trashed Vettel ! Made me wonder who’s Vettel !

  11. Don’t U worry about Vettel. He will chase Lewis and Niko till summer break. Then couple of Wins in a row and get the Championship. While Daniell will get the 6th place over all.

  12. Fantastic Job from RIC, it’s on him today! Won’t take any credits no “buts..” no “problems…” just an almost perfect driving, and only outshined by the best car in the circus right know, but beat the other, great job

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