Frustration for Daniel Ricciardo as VCARB ‘got it wrong’ in Hungary

VCARB banked two more points on Sunday in Budapest thanks to Yuki Tsunoda, but ‘got it wrong’ with Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo started the Hungarian Grand Prix inside the top ten.

However, the veteran Formula 1 driver did not finish there.

Ricciardo began the race on the medium compound and pitted early, coming into the pits on Lap 8 to make the switch to the hard tire. However, that early pit stop saw Ricciardo emerge amid heavy traffic, and he faced an uphill fight from there to try and recover position on the track.

Ricciardo gained a few spots on his second pit stop, but ultimately finished outside the points, settling for a P12.

That “long and frustrating” afternoon left the Australian driver looking for answers after the race.

“Today it was a long and frustrating race,” said Ricciardo in the team’s post-race report. “We didn’t use the pace we had in the clear air. We were on the mediums at the start of the race and after only a few laps we pitted for new hards together with the other cars who started on softs, coming out in traffic. It’s even more frustrating because we were quick all weekend, and I felt like we have taken ourselves out of the race so early as we couldn’t fight cars that were coming much quicker on newer [tires].”

VCARB Team Principal Laurent Mekies conceded that the team “got it wrong” with Ricciardo on Sunday.

“Unfortunately, we got it wrong with Daniel and pitted him too early in heavy traffic, which lost him a chance to fight for points. 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,” explained Mekies. “We certainly share his frustration, and we will learn and come back stronger next week.”

However, not all was lost for the team, as Yuki Tsunoda battled through the bruising he suffered in his shunt in qualifying on Saturday to finish up in P9, banking two potentially critical points for the team in their fight with Haas for sixth in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.

Tsunoda praised the entire team for putting his RB01 in position to finish in the points on Sunday after his big accident on Saturday.

“First of all, huge thanks to the mechanics and team who spent the night and this morning repairing my car in time for the race. It wasn’t easy after such a big crash and we had to change a lot of things, but because of their hard work we were able to score the points today - huge credit to the whole team,” said Tsunoda. “I’m very relieved I was able to make up for it after yesterday’s crash and particularly happy with my [tire] management. I think it was a big race for us, especially as we were able to finish ahead of our competitors, and it’s a huge positive for the coming races.”

Tsunoda’s two points mean VCARB now has a six-point lead over Haas, as the grid heads to Belgium for next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, the last race before F1’s summer shutdown.