Angry Ricciardo says RB strategy “made it so difficult” in Hungary

Daniel Ricciardo felt “a lot of anger” after a weak strategy wasted his opportunity to score points in Hungary, an outing the RB driver described as “one of the worst ones I’ve had in 250-something races”.

After losing two places to the soft tyre runners on the opening lap, Ricciardo’s Hungarian Grand Prix prospects began to fade.

He was passed by a fast-charging Alex Albon around the outside of Turn 1, with Kevin Magnussen also making light work of the RB driver before crossing the line to start the second lap.

A flustered RB pit wall decided to call Ricciardo in for his first pitstop on Lap 7, a premature move that caused the #3 to rejoin the race at the back of an unproductive DRS train.

Instantly engaging in a duel with the Haas driver, Ricciardo was unable to clear Magnussen despite remaining in touch.

Out of sequence with those who took the start in a similar position, Ricciardo’s tyres grew old. 

On Lap 16, he was overtaken by Lance Stroll after the Aston Martin exited the pitlane just a lap prior, a moment that was a blip in the Canadian’s race, however, the nail in the coffin for Ricciardo. 

“You don’t want to pull in the pits like you get the call and you know this isn’t the thing to do, but you get the call late and there’s no time,” Ricciardo said.

“There’s no time to question it because then if you miss a lap, it’s even worse.

“But as soon as I pulled in, I… the cars on softs had pulled in, we’re on a medium.

“Let’s go, let’s use our clear air, use the pace we’ve got… and then we come out in traffic and it’s just DRS train and for what? 

“We’re all then on the same tyre and it was…That was one of the worst ones, worst ones I’ve had in 250-something races, that was a long, old, frustrating race where I just had a lot of anger.”

Ricciardo was the first driver to make a second pitstop, being called into the pits on Lap 28, one lap earlier than his teammate’s first pitstop.

He rejoined in a painful P20, inheriting his way up the order into P13. 

The Australian made one overtake in his final stint, passing Valtteri Bottas to secure his final position in twelfth.

Daniel Ricciardo passes Valtteri Bottas during the final stint of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

“That’s the thing, I feel like we’d kind of taken ourselves out of the race so early and, you know, then we’re expected to fight a car that’s coming a second a lap quicker on newer tyres and it’s… what do you want me to do?

“We just made it so difficult for ourselves when we had pace and we could have just stayed out, clear air, stay calm, and do what we’ve done all weekend. 

“So, yeah, we did a race today but we didn’t do a race if you know what I mean. 

“We’re just driving around,” Ricciardo concluded.

While the #3 garage didn’t have any points success in Hungary, Yuki Tsunoda managed to finish in P9, securing two more points in RB’s fight against Haas in the constructors’ championship.

Following Tsunoda’s airborne crash in qualifying, the Japanese driver put in a strong redemption act.

The long-run, single-stop strategy proved virtuous for the #22, putting a smile on his face despite limping from his car in parc ferme, reeling from a bruised tailbone obtained on Saturday.

RB Team Principal Laurent Mekies was very aware of the errors made across Ricciardo’s race, echoing the #3’s frustration after the chequered flag.

“Unfortunately, we got it wrong with Daniel and pitted him too early in heavy traffic, which lost him a chance to fight for points,” Mekies said. 

“His pace had been extremely strong all weekend long, and he demonstrated that again in the final stint of the race when he was finally able to find some free air and fight his way back.

“We certainly share his frustration, and we will learn and come back stronger next week. 

“Now we move on to Spa, a very different challenge to the Hungaroring. 

“We go there with the positives of our strong weekend here and will push very hard to get our car to work as best it can at this fast and flowing track.”

On-track activity at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps kicks off at 9:30 PM on Friday, July 26.

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

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