Ricciardo takes first F1 winposted in F108 | 06 | 2014
AUSSIE DANIEL RICCIARDO bagged his maiden Formula One victory when he won thrilling Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. The Red Bull driver passed longtime leader Nico Rosberg's ailing Mercedes with just two of the 70 laps remaining.
While Rosberg held on to finish second — and extend his world championship lead to 22 points, following the retirement of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton — Ricciardo's team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished third.
Hamilton, who had seized the lead from Rosberg after the duo had completed their pitstop, was forced out when his car suffered brake failure.
And the race finished behind the safety car after Sergio Perez (Force India) and Felipe Massa (Williams) collided spectacularly on the approach to Turn 1 on the final lap as they battled for fourth.
Stewards reviewed the incident after the race and determined the Mexican caused the incident by "changing his racing line".
As a result, Perez has received a five-place grid drop for the next race in Austria.
Related: Hamilton v Rosberg — Rnd 2
The retirement of Massa and Perez elevated Jenson Button to fourth in his McLaren, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Force India and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.
Rosberg had fended off the quick-starting Hamilton at the first corner, and had established a two-second lead by the time he made his first pitstop on lap 18.
The 2008 champ upped the pace after the first pitstops and had closed to within half-a-second with DRS open when the German straight-lined the final chicane after locking up in the braking zone on lap 25.
Controversially, despite the stewards reviewing the incident — which allowed Rosberg to set the fastest lap of the race at that time — they decided not to penalise him: they did, however, issue him with a 'final warning'.
Just after half distance, both drivers, on the same lap, reported a a sudden loss of power and as a result they were two-seconds slower than the times they had beens setting.
And after taking the lead from Rosberg, after the German's second pitstop was slowed by a troublesome front-left wheel, any hopes Hamilton had of winning disappeared when his car suffered brake failure as he tried to re-pass at the final chicane.
The Englishman straightlined the corner, and then began a slow tour back to the pits to retire on lap 48 having suffered rear-brake failure.
Rosberg meanwhile shifted as much of the brake balance he could to the front wheels to reduce the stress on the rear braking system, and nursed his car towards the chequered flag.
But three laps from the end, he was unable to fend off the fast-charging Ricciardo and the Aussie took his first grand prix win by 4.236s.
DRIVERS QUOTES:
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull:
“I’m a grand prix winner! I think it still seems a bit surreal to be honest, just because it all happened so quickly at the end. I was third for a while and then it all happened in a really exciting fashion. Once I got past Perez I knew I just had to drive clean and get in Rosberg’s DRS zone and, from then on, it was just awesome. Finishing under the safety car made it a bit weird, but I wanted to make sure the two drivers who were in the accident were okay before I started celebrating.
We achieved a great result today with first and third – so let’s enjoy it – but we will still have some work to do also. This will motivate the guys to work even harder and find even more, so I’m sure it will keep coming even better for us at the next few races.”
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes:
"That was a big battle all the way through today! I had a tough start but I was able to defend in the first few corners and fight against Lewis. The race went smoothly for a while then both cars suddenly lost the MGU-K system and a lot of power which was really tough. Then I lost some time in the second pit stop which let Lewis jump me and I was struggling to cool the rear brakes down so it was all happening.
"Towards the end of the race, I tried to defend against Sergio which was fine but Daniel was too fast on the straights with much more power than I had available and he was able to get past. With so much going on, I had to ask my engineer where I finished at the end as I thought I was probably about fifth or sixth. I was so happy to hear that I was in P2! They are important points for me in the championship, so it was a tough but ultimately good day. Congratulations to Daniel for his first Formula One win."
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull:
“Congratulations to Daniel for his first win, which is very, very special, so I’m happy for him and happy for the team, especially after such a horrible winter. It’s nice to be able to finally break through to get a win this year and capitalise on Mercedes having a problem.
"I think we could have taken more risk with the strategy today – but it’s hard to know exactly what was going on around me when I’m not sitting on the pit wall. We have developed the car a lot this year, so we are going in the right direction, but we need to develop it even more for the straights, so there is still a lot of work ahead of us. We are here to keep pushing and to keep doing our best.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes:
"I did the best that I could out there today and felt like I was having a strong race but unfortunately it just wasn't our day. Montreal has been a good track for me, so to come here and not finish is disappointing but there are plenty more races ahead of us this season so let's hope for better fortune. There was nothing I could do about our issues really. We were managing the loss of power but as soon as I finally made the jump on Nico in the second pit stop, my brakes failed going into turn 10.
"It's great for the team that Nico was able to hold on and get second place today, but it's tough for me. That's two DNFs now this season and now I have to try and recover the points gap again. But these are learning experiences: we'll learn as a team and get stronger. Congratulations to Daniel today. It's awesome for him to get his first win and I know this will be a really special day for him."
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari:
“Looking at the wild final stages of the race, today we picked up some “lucky” points, but we still can’t be happy with where we finished as our aim was to do better than this. In the beginning, my pace wasn’t good and I wasn’t happy with the balance of my car. Then in the second stint, when the track began to improve, we found a good rhythm and we managed to catch the group in front. But we weren’t quick enough to join the fight.
"What Red Bull did in the race shows how quickly things can change in Formula 1 and that should be further motivation for us to get to a point where we can fight for the win. This weekend, we have made some steps forward, especially on the aerodynamic front, but the others have also improved and now, all we can do is carry on working to be as well prepared as possible for the forthcoming races.”
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari:
“We knew this would not be an easy race, because on this track, we were not fast enough down the straights and we had some problems in the slow corners. On top of that, today I never had a clear track ahead of me, for one reason or another I was always stuck behind other cars. In the beginning I had some problems with the brakes and the handling of my car wasn’t consistent. Then after a few laps, the tyres behaved better, but still with highs and lows.
"For a lot of laps, I was stuck behind Kvyat’s Toro Rosso and this cost me precious time. Even if at the moment, nothing seems to be going right for us, the new development package has given us more potential and now we must just try and find more consistency.”
Jenson Button, McLaren:
“What a fantastic race! Big congratulations to Daniel – I’m a big fan of his, he’s a great guy, and he’s obviously got the skills. Your first grand prix victory is always very special, so very well done to him.
“The opening stint on the Option tyre was tough-going for me, so I decided to jump off it quite early and move to the Prime. But then I just kept coming up on traffic – there were cars everywhere: if you were racing against a single car, it was easier to get past, but if you were in a bunch, it was tough because lots of drivers were able to use the DRS.
“Still, I fought my way through at the end. I had a little dice with Fernando and Nico (Hulkenberg) – Fernando almost hit Nico at the hairpin, and had to dive down the inside. Then they both ran wide and I got down the inside of both of them.
“On the final lap, you never want to see an accident like Felipe and Checo’s – but, fortunately, they both got out of their cars okay, which was good.
“We come out of this weekend knowing that there’s a better overall feel to our car – it’s encouraging that we’re making progress. In a straightforward race, I wouldn’t have finished fourth, but we did a good job today and ought to be happy. These points are helpful, and they’ll spur us on to do another good job in Austria.”
Sergio Perez, Force India:
“On the final lap I was defending my position going into turn one when I suddenly got hit from behind. It was a big impact, but I'm okay. I’m really sad for the team because we had an amazing race today and the one-stop strategy was working perfectly.
"It was not easy in the final laps and I was pushing hard to try and get ahead of Nico (Rosberg) for the lead. Daniel (Ricciardo) managed to get ahead of me when I had an electrical issue with my car, but I managed to reset the system for the final couple of laps. The podium was possible today and I’m just very disappointed for the points we have lost.”
Felipe Massa, Williams:
“I was one of the quickest guys on the track, so we lost many points today. I'm happy that I'm here with no problems but I'm so disappointed for what happened with Perez, and also for the pitstop because I think maybe we could even have fought for victory today. But it shows we have a good car and I'm convinced the next race will be better.”
F1 Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal — Result:
1. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1h39m12.830s;
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +4.236s;
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +5.247s;
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +11.755s;
5. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +12.843s;
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +14.869s;
7. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +23.578s;
8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault +28.026s;
9. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +29.254s;
10. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +53.678s;
11. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes -1 lap;
12. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes -1 lap;
13. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari -1 lap;
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari -6 laps.
Retirements
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 58 laps
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 47 laps
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 45 laps
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 22 laps
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 21 laps
Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 6 laps
Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 0 laps
Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 0 laps
Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1. Nico Rosberg 140
2. Lewis Hamilton 118
3. Daniel Ricciardo 79
4. Fernando Alonso 69
5. Sebastian Vettel 60
6. Nico Hulkenberg 57
7. Jenson Button 43
8. Valtteri Bottas 40
9. Kevin Magnussen 23
10. Sergio Perez 20
11. Felipe Massa 18
12. Kimi Raikkonen 18
13. Romain Grosjean 8
14. Jean-Eric Vergne 8
15. Daniil Kvyat 4
16. Jules Bianchi 2
Constructors':
1. Mercedes 258
2. Red Bull-Renault 139
3. Ferrari 87
4. Force India-Mercedes 77
5. McLaren-Mercedes 66
6. Williams-Mercedes 58
7. Toro Rosso-Renault 12
8. Lotus-Renault 8
9. Marussia-Ferrari 2
10. Sauber-Ferrari 0
11. Caterham-Renault 0
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Jim McGill