Ricciardo says Red Bull hasn’t got the maximum from the 2016 season so far but has been surprised by the team’s performance: “I think the season has been better than expected”. “Is it easy to move on?” I wouldn’t say easy, but can you move on? Can you move on?
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“Yeah, it has been a few days since the race and I still wake up with it on my mind”.
“I’m going to bed with it off my mind, but I’m waking up with it on my mind, so it will take a bit of time”.
Sainz and Verstappen made their F1 debut alongside one another at Toro Rosso in 2015, but while the Spaniard arrived in F1 on the back of title-winning success in the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship, his teenage team-mate had completed just a single season of vehicle racing.
Ricciardo led for 30 laps in Spain, but fell to fourth behind Verstappen and both Ferraris after his three-stop race strategy had played out.
“It’s so hard to overtake in Monaco, past year I tried and we ended up in the wall, so the most important thing is to have a good qualifying and start and from there on keep it on the track!”
“I think it is more probably because in the last three races the end result hasn’t been what we’ve deserved”.
But a three-stop strategy cost Ricciardo the chance of victory, with Max Verstappen, his new Red Bull team-mate, pitting for tyres on just two occasions, to become Formula One’s youngest-ever victor.
“It’s a tough one”, he said.
“That’s a positive I’m trying to draw myself to, but from a personal side it was massively frustrating”. Sure, it’s a team sport but you are doing it for yourself as well. Now Max is the newest challenge for me, and he is a big one.
“Max is a serious F1 driver and that’s actually really good for me and good motivation”.
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“I think Max and I were always ready for a top team and I feel that I’m ready and I’m not surprised Max did well”. However, it was the two stop strategy used by teammate Verstappen that was to prove the quicker, allowing the youngster to take a historic maiden win.
