Daniel Ricciardo Celebrates Point-Scoring Finish at 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, Maximizing Results in 250th F1 Start
As the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season continues to unfold, Daniel Ricciardo marked a significant milestone in his career, celebrating his 250th Formula 1 Grand Prix start at the Austrian Grand Prix. The Australian driver has been on a roll lately, outperforming his teammate Yuki Tsunoda in the last three races.
Starting from 11th on the grid, Ricciardo impressively climbed up to 9th, securing two crucial points for Visa Cash App RB. Considering the team’s current pace compared to BWT Alpine F1 Team, Ricciardo’s result is all the more remarkable, as he managed to stay ahead of Pierre Gasly for most of the final stint and even got within striking distance of Kevin Magnussen on the last few laps.
Ricciardo acknowledged that the team has been struggling since the introduction of an upgrade package at the Spanish Grand Prix, which unfortunately sent RB backwards. He mentioned that the team is still trying to understand the issues with the update, and Ricciardo himself had to battle hard to hold on to the final point-scoring positions.
“We were a bit more on the defense, a bit more mirror watching. We were hanging on to the points, but at the end, on the last few laps, I had DRS on Magnussen, so we had a little bit of pace, probably at the end when the tires were getting older. But for most of the stint, I felt like we weren’t a very fast car in our group, so we were just hanging on by the skin of our teeth.”
The Australian praised his team’s strategy, saying:
“The team did well. We used our two hards to our advantage, pitting early and securing the position over the Alpine’s, and that was important. At the end, it took some clean laps, Gasly was quite quick on the medium.”
Ricciardo also acknowledged that Haas outscored RB on the day but was pleased with the damage limitation, adding: “It’s been a better weekend.”
Despite rumors circulating about his potential replacement by Liam Lawson, Ricciardo has proven his worth in the last three races, consistently maximizing the performance of his car. When asked about his recent form, he said:
“I look back now at the last three, and they’ve definitely been better. Leaving the Sunday feeling like we’ve got pretty much the most out of it. There’s always going to be areas which I can do better and improve, but as a whole, we swipe out of the paddock with a smile and feel like we’ve ticked most boxes, so that’s good – we’ve got to keep that up.”
Ricciardo expressed his satisfaction with the result, believing that RB overachieved by scoring points, saying:
“It’s a nice feeling to fight and drive a clean race, bring a couple of points home when deep down we’ll look back at our pace and say we probably didn’t belong in the points. I feel in some parts we overachieved, so we’ll give ourselves a pat on the back.”
As the 2024 F1 season continues, Ricciardo’s performance will be closely watched by fans and pundits alike, especially as the industry looks ahead to the WEC 2024 season and the upcoming WEC 2023 calendar. With his recent form, Ricciardo is set to make a strong case for his team and himself in the world of Formula 1 and FIA WEC.
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