Ricciardo ‘actually liked’ Monza’s standing restart

Michelle Foster
Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo says he preferred Monza’s standing restart to the usual restart behind the Safety Car, saying it offers drivers “a bit more chance”.

With the Italian Grand Prix red flagged following Charles Leclerc’s high-speed crash at the Parabolica, Ricciardo lined up P10 on the grid for the restart.

The grid lined up in the running order at the red flag.

Ricciardo immediately jumped up from 10th to ninth, easily passing Nicholas Latifi before working his way up to sixth place at the chequered flag.

It was the first time that Formula 1 had used a standing restart with Ricciardo saying he enjoyed it.

“It obviously feels unfair going backwards but I actually liked that more than the rolling start,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“Because you’ve got a bit more chance to do more on a standing start so I like it.

“Obviously the first start was good so I had confidence going into the second one but also I was like, ‘I’ve already done a good one’. Turn one here is so chaotic so it can go either way.

“Look, we did well, we held on and I think both of them were good for us.

“I’m convinced there will be another race like this this year, another chaotic one, and we’ll get the better end of it.”

Official F1 Shop: Black and white face coverings

Crossing in the sixth place, one position higher than his original start position, Ricciardo says it wasn’t a “bad” day for Renault especially as his team-mate Esteban Ocon also scored in eighth place.

He was, however, hoping for better but lost positions through the timing of the two Safety Cars.

“Sixth isn’t bad for us today, I felt I couldn’t have done anymore in the situation,” he said.

“We weren’t the only ones, but the safety car and red flag did not go our way today.

“After a good start and good pace, the timing wasn’t on our side, but that’s something we can’t change.

“The first thing was the engineer told me was that Charles (Leclerc) was OK (after his crash) because he was pretty deep in the barrier. So I didn’t want to complain too much.

“He said he was OK and then I started showing a bit of frustration but it’s racing man, these are the circumstances and I think we recovered well and this is how we move forward.

“I honestly did the best race I could and sixth is what it was today.”

Ricciardo was full of praise for race winner Pierre Gasly, who maintained his calm to clinch his maiden grand prix win.

“Congrats to Pierre, I was just saying while the circumstances were in his favour today with the restarts and red flags it’s not easy,” Ricciardo said.

“You’ve built up all this adrenaline, you try to cool yourself and then you get kind of jacked up again.

“Mentally it’s really hard. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, I like it, but I think for him to maintain that for his first win around a track that’s an overtake-able circuit, congrats to him, he deserves it.”

Gasly beat Carlos Sainz to the line, Sainz being the man that Ricciardo will replace next season at McLaren.

“Hats off to them, they did a great job today,” the Aussie said of his 2021 team. “I think Carlos and Lando [Norris] were running second and third already before the restart.”

Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1 and like our Facebook page.

Daniel Ricciardo Renault

Related Articles