On this day 2018: Ricciardo storms to super Shanghai win
On this day six years ago, Daniel Ricciardo produced one of the finest moments of his Formula 1 career, storming to a famous win in the Chinese Grand Prix.
As F1 prepares to return to Shanghai for the first time since 2019 this weekend, enjoy AUTO ACTION’s race report on the storming drive.
Scraping through the first qualifying session after an engine change, starting sixth, and even the might of Ferrari and Mercedes could not stop Daniel Ricciardo taking Grand Prix win number six.
Ricciardo came within about a minute of starting the Chinese Grand Prix on the back row of the grid.
But, thanks to teamwork by the Red Bull crew who changed his engine and got him out in Qualifying just in time, he started the race in sixth place.
Then perfect teamwork and strategy during the race put him in sixth position on new tyres with 21 laps to go.
The Aussie, who is the best overtaker in Formula 1, then sliced and diced his way into the lead and went on to win.
“Without them yesterday and without the strategy today they wouldn’t have made it possible,” Ricciardo said of the crew and his victory.
Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel led in the early going in his Ferrari. But by pitting earlier than Vettel, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was able to take over first place when Vettel stopped for tyres.
Daniel Ricciardo charging to the final corner in Shanghai. Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
With about half the race remaining, it looked like it would be a Russia Repeat of that race a year ago when Bottas earned his first victory after holding off Vettel. Could he do the same in China?
It became a moot point when Toro Rosso teammates Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley collided.
“Clearly a miscommunication,” Hartley said. “He thought I was letting him by, but I planned to let him by on corner exit as we were on different strategies.”
That brought out the Safety Car. Red Bull reacted immediately and told Max Verstappen and Ricciardo to pit. They came in seconds apart for soft compound tyres.
The top three, Bottas, Vettel and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), stayed out on their now-getting-old medium compound tyres because their teams believed track position was more important than fresh rubber.
It has been, but when the Safety Car released the field, new tyres became king and Verstappen and Ricciardo were on the move.
Ricciardo took fifth from Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) who was also on a one-stop but had pitted later than the front three.
Verstappen went off the track attacking Hamilton, and that allowed Ricciardo to move into fourth.
Then the charging Aussie fought his way past Hamilton, Vettel and, finally Bottas, to take the lead with 11 laps to go.
It was a different scenario to Bahrain a week earlier when Bottas on worn tyres was unable to take the lead from Vettel.
Ricciardo had fresh, soft tyres compared to the drivers in front of him, but he also had that Ricciardo go-for-it mode.
“It was close but fair,” Ricciardo said of his pass for the lead.
“It’s cool when you go wheel-to-wheel. It’s fun for drivers and it’s good TV so I enjoyed it. It makes it a bit sweeter than just maybe cruising past on the straight.”
Daniel Ricciardo hunting down leader Valtteri Bottas. Photo by Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images)
Second-placed Bottas said it was just a matter of time before Ricciardo got by.
“I tried to defend but ultimately, with the better tyres, he could really brake quite a lot later and got inside,” Bottas said
Raikkonen wound up third: I take what I got, because at one point it didn’t look good at all,” he said.
“For sure we were faster than Valtteri (Bottas), but when you get close it becomes more difficult, you lose so much grip in the process and lose so much downforce, especially in this kind of circuit. I just couldn’t get enough of a run on him.”
A disconsolate Hamilton wound up fourth. The Mercedes cars didn’t perform well on the cold track on Saturday. It was better, at least for Bottas, when the track was warmer on Sunday.
“I was in no man’s land today,” lamented Hamilton. “I had no pace. I was just trying to hold on for whatever I had.”
A happy Nico Hülkenberg wound up sixth in his Renault.
“Everyone seemed to have low grip at the start with cars sliding all over the place,” he said.
“We were on a two-stop strategy from the beginning, so we had to make the tyre last, while maintaining strong pace.
“Even without the Safety Car I think we would have come out on top of the midfield.”
Things did not go as smoothly for Verstappen who collided with Vettel while trying to overtake.
Sebastian Vettel spins after clashing with Max Verstappen. Photo by Jose Rubio / Sutton Images
“He came straight after (to apologise),” Vettel said after finishing eighth with a damaged car.
“He realised that he did a mistake. I said to him, Look, the races are long and you threw your podium away.”
Verstappen, who could have won but ended up fifth following a penalty for hitting Vettel, admitted: “I just made life a lot more difficult for myself. I made some mistakes.
“Seb was struggling a bit on the tyres so I knew I had an opportunity. I tried to take him on the inside but locked the rears and ended up hitting him.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner is confident that Verstappen learned a lesson.
“His talent is extremely obvious. His bravery and racing instinct is not in doubt. His judgement today: he was too impatient,” Horner said.
Ricciardo’s blend of patience and aggression brought him his sixth F1 win.
“Holy Testicle Tuesday!” he said.
“Sometimes I question why I chose this sport because there’s so many other things out of your control and it does get you down a lot – but then when you have a day like this its worth 50 of those bad ones.”
Main photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
2018 Chinese Grand Prix results
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