24/07/2023
NEWS STORY
Daniel Ricciardo believes that were it not for Guanyu Zhou's over enthusiasm at the first corner he could have brought home points on his F1 return.
Starting 13th - which was surely an omen - Ricciardo was one of several innocent victims as the Chinese driver sought to make up lost ground after suffering a technical glitch at the start.
Heading into Turn 1, the Australian was hit from behind by the Alfa Romeo, causing him to hit Esteban Ocon, sending the Frenchman's Alpine into the air.
Ocon and his teammate Pierre Gasly, who was also caught up in the melee, subsequently retired, while Zhou was handed a 5s time penalty.
Having incurred damage in the incident, Ricciardo's hopes of a fairy-tale result were dashed from the outset.
"If we stayed ahead and held position at the start I believe we could have really fought for a points finish today," he said at race end."
Referring to the damage he added: "I had a look at the end. There was a little bit of damage on the back of the diffuser, but the team said it was pretty much OK.
"I'd love to say I could have gone a second quicker but I think the car was more or less fine," he laughed.
Having pitted on Lap 18 while running ninth, the Australian was called in again just 11 laps later leaving him with a long final stint on the mediums.
"I was kind of just stuck behind a bit of a train behind Sargeant and someone else and I knew in dirty air, even with these new cars, this circuit is definitely a hard one to follow.
"They pitted quite early and as soon as they did I felt the grip coming back in the tyre and thought 'let's see what we can do in clear air'. And that was better.
"We pitted relatively early. I think we got put back in traffic and that's when I was like 'whatever we can do let's have a think to give me clear air', because it's so hard to pass and we have been a little bit down on top speed so it was just trying to do an ultimate strategy.
"Still a lot of questions to be answered," he said of the car, "so having the pace, having the clear air and making a few mistakes, leaning from those, learning what the car likes, what it doesn't. I learnt a lot from the race.
"Honestly just coming into it physically, not doing a race distance in eight months, especially round here, it's actually one of the tougher ones. That's one of the biggest smiles I have right now, it felt pretty good out there."
Showing no obvious signs of 'ring rust', Ricciardo was asked how he felt physically.
"I actually felt a lot better than I thought," he said. "I thought I'd get to mid-race, lap 30, 35, and I'd be starting to really feel it. I remember looking at lap 35, I think it was, and, 'oh half way there', feeling pretty encouraged. It was all pretty good."
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