Ricciardo wins: Merc duo clashposted in F124 | 08 | 2014
RED BULL'S DANIEL RICCIARDO (pictured) might well have won today's Belgian Grand Prix, but the race was dominated by a clash between the two Merecdes rivals — Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg — on the second lap of the Spa-Francorchamps race (BTCC dazzles in the Knockhill sun).
Rosberg, the championship leader, started from pole position but Hamilton catapulted into the lead with a barnstorming start.
The former world champ then defended strongly against the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, who then was forced to cut across the chicane allowing Rosberg back into second.
The drama and controversy though exploded on lap two. Rosberg, who clearly had a run on his Mercedes team-mate and nearest rival for the world title, inexplicably tried to overtake Hamilton on the outside at the entrance to the fast right-left corner at Les Combes.
It was an attempted manoeuvre which had trouble written all over it.
Hamilton, ahead throughout the entrance and exit of the corner, naturally held the racing line. Rosberg, on the outside of the right-hand section of the corner, then clearly turned-in on his team-mate.
The inevitable contact ripped the front plate off the German's car. Of greater significance though was the puncture suffered by Hamilton's rear-left Pirelli tyre.
While the Englishman limped his car home for new rubber, he was eventually forced to retire as his Mercedes continued to lose speed due to the damage caused to the aerodynamics of his car.
Rosberg, meanwhile, recovered to finish second and extend his championship lead to 29 points.
Williams' Valtteri Bottas continued his impressive season claiming his fourth podium of the year after finishing third, with Kimi Raikkonen claiming his best finish of the year for Ferrari in fourth.
While Vettel finished fourth, Kevin Magnussen crossed the line in fifth. But the Dane received a 20sec penalty from the race stewards after he was adjudged to have not left enough room for Fernando Alonso to pass.
The Spaniard was forced to run two wheels on the grass and eventually slipped to eighth, but was ultimately promoted to seventh.
DRIVER QUOTES:
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull:
"You know everyone was saying we didn’t really have a chance around here, 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. It was difficult staying out at the end of the race.
"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 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, and 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.”
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes:
“That was a tough race. We had the pace to win today but the incident cost us a top result, so I'm really disappointed because for the team it was a bad day. As drivers, we are here to entertain and to show the fans a good time, so our duels are always on the limit. I regret that Lewis and myself touched, but I see it as a racing incident, just as the stewards did.
"I was quicker down the straight and went to the outside as the inside line was blocked. I gave it a go and, after we touched, I realised that my front wing was damaged and thought that was it. In the next second I saw that Lewis also had a problem, which was very unfortunate for him and for the team. We sat down quickly after the race but there will be some more meetings to be held in to avoid races like today.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes:
“I'm gutted with the result — not just for my own Championship hopes but for the team, as we really should have had a one-two today. It's been a tough year for everyone and the whole team has been working so hard; every time we've been knocked down they've never given up.
"I didn't fully understand what had happened until I saw the replay just now, but I gave him plenty of space, took the corner like I usually do and suddenly felt a big hit from behind. There was nothing I could do about it and that was effectively my race over. I wanted to retire the car early, not because I was giving up, but because I couldn't catch the people in front of me and even with a safety car I don't think I would have been able to pass them. The car was quite badly damaged and my thoughts were to preserve the engine after the last one was destroyed in Hungary.
"What happens next is not my call: that's one for the bosses to make. But I'm now almost 30 points behind in the championship so that's the main thing on my mind. It's a big gap and it will be hard to recover from here. That's tough to swallow, but ultimately it's just been one of those days.”
Valtteri Bottas, Williams;
“Our pace was solid today and a lot better than in qualifying, with some good battles with the Ferraris and Red Bulls, and I think third was probably the right result. I was stuck behind slower cars at the beginning which made the first stint difficult, but I managed to make my way past cars when it was needed and that was important for my race. We came into this race aiming for a podium and it is very satisfying to achieve that after an up and down weekend with tricky weather and Felipe being very unlucky today with debris.”
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull:
“Towards the end of the race was good, I was in a rush to get through because the laps were going down and obviously Alonso and Magnussen didn’t have fresh tyres, so Jenson and me caught them fairly quickly. In the end it was good not to lose a position compared to when we decided to pit, which was probably a little bit late, but in the end we maintained the position.
"The battle was fairly interesting, it was a bit all over the place with people pushing each other off on the track, but we race hard, although sometimes maybe a bit too hard! The team did a great job in the pit stops, three perfect stops, they felt really quick.”
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari:
“Today my race started on the back foot as the car did not fire up and we had to use another battery. It’s a shame because we had a strong pace all weekend and, starting fourth, we could have finished on the podium. With a penalty to take and on a circuit where top speed is our weak point, we knew we didn’t stand much of a chance, but all the same we did our best.
"Unfortunately, towards the end there was some rather questionable driving and after my front wing was damaged in a coming together with Vettel, the important thing was to get to the chequered flag. I know the Stewards acted on what happened, but I don’t think it’s that important when you are fighting for sixth and seventh places.
"Now we must look ahead and prepare for Monza. Even if it’s a track that won’t suit our car, it’s our home race. We will have the support of all the fans and so it’s a race where we want to do better. Let’s hope we succeed in that.”
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari:
“We had decided to tackle this race more aggressively, making an early stop to get ahead of the cars that had yet to pit and that meant I was able to stay with the leaders for much of the race. When Bottas in the Williams began to close on me, I knew I didn’t have the speed to defend on the straight and with a few laps to go, he managed to pass me.
"In general, I’m happy with how this weekend ended. We knew it would not be easy on this circuit, but we did our utmost and for the first time, we managed to have a clean race without any problems. The car has improved and today the pace was good. Fourth place shows we are going in the right direction, but it doesn’t mean we can settle for that. Today, we scored a good number of points, but we are here to win and we will continue to work to reach the top.”
Jenson Button, McLaren:
“We played the long game today – most people were making their pit-stops early – and I felt I kept the tyres in good condition. I also had a lot of fun out there, especially racing Kevin (Magnussen), Sebastian (Vettel) and Fernando (Alonso) at the end. In the final laps Kevin and I didn’t touch, although I had to back off a bit at Turn Eight, when Fernando ran off as he and Kevin were dicing. I lost a place to Fernando there, which was a bit of a shame, and in turn a place to Sebastian after that, but as I say I really enjoyed it out there. It’s such a fantastic circuit; driving here always feels so good.”
Kevin Magnussen, McLaren:
“Despite being penalised after the race (Magnussen received a 20s penalty, dropping him back from fifth to 12th), I have to say I enjoyed the weekend. I had great fun out there this afternoon – I was involved in exciting racing on an awesome circuit. It was a tough challenge, because everyone around me had slightly fresher tyres than I did, and they’re all great drivers: they’re not the easiest guys to keep behind. So I just tried my best to defend my position as well as I could.
"Changing the subject, I want to say how brilliant it was to see so many Danish fans in the crowd. The support I’ve had this weekend has been incredible – I’ve never experienced anything like it, to be honest. Last but not least, it was good that Jenson got past Fernando at the end, to score some useful points for the team.”
Felipe Massa, Williams:
“Unfortunately at the beginning of the race I had some tyre debris stuck in the floor that came from Hamilton’s car and this made the car very slow, losing about two seconds per lap. This wasn’t removed until my second pitstop and after that I was nearly three seconds quicker and the fastest car on track, but at this point it was too late for me to really do anything. Obviously I’m very disappointed that something like this has hurt my race and I just hope that in Monza my luck will change and I am able to put the car in the sort of position it is capable of.”
F1, Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps — Result (After Magnussen penalty):
1. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1h24m36.556s;
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +3.383s;
3. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +28.032s;
4. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +36.815s;
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +52.196s;
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +54.580s;
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +1m01.162s;
8. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes +1m04.293s;
9. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault +1m05.347s;
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +1m05.697s;
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault +1m11.920s;
12. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +1m14.262s;
13. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes +1m15.975s;
14. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari +1m22.447s;
15. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1m30.825s;
16. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari -1 lap;
17. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault -1 lap;
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari -5 laps
Retirements
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 38 laps
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 33 laps
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1 lap
Andre Lotterer Caterham-Renault 1 lap
Championship Standings:
Drivers':
1. Nico Rosberg 220
2. Lewis Hamilton 191
3. Daniel Ricciardo 156
4. Fernando Alonso 121
5. Valtteri Bottas 110
6. Sebastian Vettel 98
7. Nico Hulkenberg 70
8. Jenson Button 68
9. Felipe Massa 40
10. Kimi Raikkonen 39
11. Kevin Magnussen 37
12. Sergio Perez 33
13. Jean-Eric Vergne 11
14. Romain Grosjean 8
15. Daniil Kvyat 8
16. Jules Bianchi 2
Constructors':
1. Mercedes 411
2. Red Bull/Renault 254
3. Ferrari 160
4. Williams/Mercedes 150
5. McLaren/Mercedes 105
6. Force India/Mercedes 103
7. Toro Rosso/Renault 19
8. Lotus/Renault 8
9. Marussia/Ferrari 2
10. Sauber/Ferrari 0
11. Caterham/Renault 0
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Jim McGill