'Trying not to cry': Daniel Ricciardo dudded in F1 'disaster'

Daniel Ricciardo has endured the latest chapter in his disastrous stint at Renault, finishing 14th in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix despite starting fifth.

A brilliant drive from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took victory in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday, with world champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas second and third.

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Ricciardo finished way down in 14th, dropping a place on the opening lap and suffering a disastrous spin after his second pit stop.

He ended up pitting three times and said he was “trying not to cry” after the race.

It was a tragic result considering he was third-fastest in practice and fifth after qualifying.

“It was a race that just kept getting away from us,” Ricciardo said.

“It’s tough, we’ll look but I think in hindsight we could have gone longer and tried to just put the hard (tyres) on (for one pitstop). But we came in for (a second set of) mediums, and that medium just got destroyed, we couldn’t do much else with it at all, so that was certainly unexpected.

“And then finished with the hard, but we came out in a group, obviously, because the medium stint wasn’t good. Then we were in the fight, tried to defend from Carlos (Sainz) and I lost the car.

“I spun, killed those tyres. The spin put us really out of the race, and then I killed those tyres because of the spin so our race was done. It just got away from us. It’s a shame.”

Ricciardo said the team’s tyre strategy cost him.

“The first set of mediums wasn’t bad. I don’t think we were lightning fast but I thought we were hanging in there with the Racing Points,” Ricciardo told the F1 website.

“It felt like it was going good, actually. Then we pitted and put another medium (tyre) on to follow the two-stop and that second medium just didn’t work.

“So we had to pit shortly after for the hard and we were out of sequence, we were in that battle I don’t think we should have been in and I spun trying to hold Carlos off.

“It was a race that started here (up high) then went into a bit of a hole.

“I’m trying not to cry about it but it’s just one of those days. We’ve got to learn from it. A Sunday with great hope and little reward.”

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul was also disappointed with the result.

“His second stint … was not competitive at all and we had to call him for an early stop, which compromised the rest of his race,” he said.

“From his starting position today, we were clearly aiming for a better result.”

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Verstappen started fourth but immediately passed the Racing Point of Nico Huelkenberg and, on hard tyres, set the basis for his ninth career win with a 27-lap stint.

Bottas, who started on pole, and Hamilton pitted earlier having started on mediums but Verstappen's own middle sprint on the softer rubber ensured his two-stop plan was quicker than his rivals.

Six-time world champion Hamilton retains his standings lead on 107 points with Verstappen now second on 77 and Bottas down to third on 73.

The 5.891km circuit was hosting a second successive race after the British Grand Prix last week, this time named in honour of the first-ever F1 world championship race taking place at Silverstone in 1950.

Hamilton won last week but was beaten to pole by his teammate on Saturday and had a difficult Sunday, constantly battling wear on his tyres.

Things were complicated further by the softest of the three compounds available struggling in the high temperatures of the day leaving the teams to run mainly on medium and hards.

Verstappen made it look easy however to spring the first shock of the season against Mercedes who have otherwise completely dominated.

Bottas will rue the missed chance for a second season victory as Verstappen claimed his first as Hamilton remains unscathed in the standings - the fastest lap bonus ensured he retains his 30-point lead going into next Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix as the coronavirus-hit season continues at pace.

Charles Leclerc was a superb fourth for Ferrari having started eighth but team-mate Sebastian Vettel struggled again, ending in 12th.

with AAP