A day of highs and lows for Ricciardo in Miami

Saturday in Miami was a day of both highs and lows for Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian putting on a masterclass defensive display in the Sprint to secure his highest finish and first points of the season before a disastrous qualifying session resulted in the Australian being set to start the Miami Grand Prix from P20.

Daniel Ricciardo’s brilliant performance during the Sprint Shootout rewarded the Australian with an exciting opportunity in the Sprint, one he was able to capitalise on when the time came.

“It was a very tough Sprint race, but I felt awesome, fighting towards the front just feels so much nicer,” Ricciardo said.

“I saw a Ferrari in the mirror for almost the whole race and I thought, alright, challenge accepted, let’s do what we can!”

Lining up from the second row, Ricciardo had Sergio Perez for company on the run down to Turn 1, with fate having the Australian’s back.

As the field rounded the first corner, Perez locked up, allowing Ricciardo to sneak past into third.

With an incident unfolding behind, the Safety Car was soon deployed, lasting three laps before Verstappen led the grid through the rolling restart.

Although his time in the podium places was short-lived, Ricciardo didn’t make it an easy move for Perez, holding him up for two additional laps before being passed down the back straight.

The threat of the Red Bull was now replaced by the threat of the “blue” Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz instantly arrived at the rear of Ricciardo’s VCARB 01, attempting to overtake the Australian for the following 15 laps, however, to no avail.

Daniel Ricciardo on track during the Sprint ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

For the first few laps since passing Ricciardo, Perez held back, giving the RB driver a DRS advantage in his fight with the Spaniard to avoid a later fight between the two front-running teams.

This allowed Ricciardo to hold the lead over the Ferrari before tyre degradation lessened Sainz’s attacking intensity.

Sainz took multiple looks at moves into Turn 1 and Turn 17, but at over two car lengths behind the #3, was never close enough to pass for fourth place.

It was the same story for the remainder of the 19-lap Sprint.

“Every lap I was able to hold off Carlos [Sainz], so when I saw the end of the race coming near, I really thought that maybe we could maintain the position.

“It was a Sprint race in all forms of the word and was without any tyre-saving.”

In the final three laps, Sainz was going for one final push for P4, a strategy Ricciardo had anticipated as they approached Lap 17, 18 and 19. 

The #55’s attempts reaped the same luckless results, being forced to settle for fifth place.

Ricciardo took home a well-deserved, and overdue, haul of five points in Miami, with his teammate also inheriting a single point after being promoted to P8.

“I’m proud of myself and the team, of all the people who stood behind me and believed in me.”

“There’s happiness for sure, but also some powerful emotions, especially looking at the first few races of the season.

“Thanks to the people for having some patience and then being awarded with a result like this.

“We all deserve this result as we went through a bit of stuff to get here, so it’s even nicer. ”

RB celebrates Daniel Ricciardo’s P4 finish in Miami. Image: Red Bull Content Pool.

Sainz commended Ricciardo’s efforts, giving the RB driver a thumbs up on the cool-down lap as the Australian celebrated with his engineers over the radio.

The afternoon session took a turn for the worst, however, with a looming three-place grid penalty starting the Australian off on the wrong foot.

“This is the sport, it’s highly unpredictable, and sometimes things can change so quickly, so at least we really enjoyed the morning with the team,” Ricciardo said. 

“Today’s afternoon was frustrating and obviously, I’m not happy with it as there’s a big contrast with what we achieved in the Sprint.”

Before he had even left the pitlane, Ricciardo found himself involved in a moment with Zhou Guanyu.

Ricciardo was forced to let the pushy Sauber driver into the queue, saying that he had to let Zhou in to avoid potential contact.

Out on track, the story wasn’t much better for the #3.

Ricciardo’s first flying lap was a 1:28.617s, which at the time of crossing the line was the second fastest time behind George Russell.

That lap was two-tenths quicker than his teammate, with Yuki Tsunoda sitting three places back.

After a momentary trip to the pits after kissing the wall at Turn 16, Ricciardo returned to the Miami International Autodrome to complete his second, and final, run of the session.

“I saw Lando’s lap in SQ3 yesterday, where he was struggling from the start of the lap, sliding everywhere with his rear with the softs, and honestly, I felt the same today.

“I started sliding out of Turn 1 and it just got worse and worse throughout the rest of the lap.

“There’s no real explanation right now.”

Daniel Ricciardo on track during qualifying ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

The Australian set off from an at-risk P15 and was unsuccessful in improving on his time.

The first two sectors of Ricciardo’s lap were personal bests, with the timing sheets showing him a tenth up on the requirement time.

As Ricciardo crossed the line, however, he’d fallen flat in the final sector after reportedly struggling with grip across the lap.

The #3’s lap was ultimately 0.164 seconds back on the cut-off time, seeing him qualifying with the third slowest time of Q1.

“I feel that we have a good car, but I think that in the last run of Q1, the tyres were simply operating on a different level of grip.

“The warm-up lap was fine and also the team was happy with where the tyres were.

“We’ll definitely be looking at it tonight, to hopefully have an explanation.”

With the addition of Ricciardo’s three-place grid penalty, the RB driver will line up for the very back of the grid to start the Miami Grand Prix.

“Tomorrow will be a long race, obviously starting last doesn’t help, but we’ll have a lot of laps trying to come through the field.”

“I’ll put my head down for it!”

The Miami Grand Prix kicks off at 6:00 AM, Monday morning, AEST.

2024 Miami Grand Prix schedule 

Saturday, May 4

Practice 1: 02.30-03.30

Sprint Shootout: 06.30-07.14

Sunday, May 5

Sprint: 02.00-03.00

Qualifying: 06.00-07.00

Monday, May 5

Grand Prix: 06.00

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