22/10/2018
NEWS STORY
Formula One's two antipodean drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Brendon Hartley, were left uncharacteristically angry and frustrated following a difficult weekend in Austin.
Ricciardo's race came to an end on the eighth lap, the Australian's Red Bull grinding to a halt having seemingly lost all power.
The usually infectiously effervescent youngster cut a forlorn figure as he climbed from the car - sporting overalls inspired by a cowboy outfit - and for a short while wandering aimlessly before hitching a ride back to the paddock.
"He's taken out his frustration in his room by putting his fist through the wall, which you can totally relate to," team boss Christian Horner subsequently revealed, Ricciardo having suffered his fifth retirement from the last ten races.
"I'm sure he'll be having a word with his future employers about it, " added Horner, never missing an opportunity to have a dig at Renault, and not exactly helping dispel those conspiracy theories suggesting the Australian's reliability issues have worsened since he announced his move to the French team, "it's so frustrating to keep losing him from races at the moment."
Horner revealed that the issue was the same as that encountered in Bahrain at the start of the year.
"It looks like a major issue in the energy store and it just takes out all the power," he said. "We've got another energy store within the allocation without having to take a penalty and the Renault guys in the garage have obviously apologised, which we appreciate, but the frustration is for Daniel. He knows its not a team issue, he knows it's nothing we've done. He can't get his head around why it keeps happening to him."
Meanwhile, kiwi Brendon Hartley, vented his frustration having finished eleventh, just outside the point.
Having previously claimed that Toro Rosso has not given him full support this year, and justifiably unhappy that just three races into the season the Faenza outfit approached McLaren with a view to securing the services of Lando Norris, Hartley said: "Obviously having to answer questions about my future every week which is getting increasingly annoying and I've read in the media that I have to beat my team-mate and I was ahead in Singapore until team orders, I was ahead in Russia until the car broke down, I was ahead in Suzuka in qualifying and I was ahead today, so let's see what happens."
Referring to the race, he added: "It was a good race, pretty happy with that, did some really good passes, great first lap, did everything I could with the pace and P10 was a bit far away. Obviously it's a bit annoying to be one place out of the points and starting last you always think what could have been."
However, following the disqualification of Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen for fuel irregularities, the kiwi was promoted to ninth.