“He got lucky, didn’t he?” Safety Car ends Ricciardo’s victory hopes

39 comments on ““He got lucky, didn’t he?” Safety Car ends Ricciardo’s victory hopes”

1. 

   PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
   20th September 2015, 21:39

   Somehow I believe Vettel had plenty in hand to resist the Red Bull on all fronts.
   1. 

      aka_robyn
      20th September 2015, 21:59

      Exactly — Vettel was never in any kind of danger from Ricciardo or anyone else, as much as the TV commentators (at least in the US) were trying to make it sound like he was.
      1. 

         Solo (@solo)
         13th October 2015, 17:21

         You can’t know that. You judge after seeing things going his way. You don’t know how they could developed if they didn’t go his way.
2. 

   Corrado (@)
   20th September 2015, 21:48

   Just words said to be heard by the public…

   The “fight” for the 1st place was tight all race long, but RIC never even got within 2 sec of VET in order to try mount a pass, make it happen is not worth mentioning at all. To me it looked like VET had it under control all race long.
   1. 

      Prateek Saxena
      20th September 2015, 22:26

      Agreed. Vettel was lucky to the extent that Red Bull/RIC were ever able to mount a serious challenge or use the undercut.
   2. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      21st September 2015, 0:04

      @corrado-dub

      words said to be heard by the public

      I think you overestimate the significance of television viewers to the drivers when they’re in the middle of a race. Why should they care about you at all?
   3. 

      kanan
      21st September 2015, 9:19

      Ricciardo was indeed within 2 seconds of Vettel for a long period after 1st SC. But he couldn’t attack Vettel. Then SV pulled away 2 sec in 1 lap.
   4. 

      Patrick (@paeschli)
      22nd September 2015, 16:15

      “He got lucky, didn’t he?”

      Yeah this doesn’t make any sense. Vettel wasn’t lucky, he was just faster in both quali and during the race …
   5. 

      Solo (@solo)
      13th October 2015, 17:23

      For crying out loud, Riccardo never managed to get a chance to make his attack plan work. The fact that he was never in the gearbox of Vettel means nothing since he wasn’t suppose to be attacking in those points.
3. 

   Peppermint-Lemon (@)
   20th September 2015, 21:50

   Jenson’s lap far faster than Alonso.
   1. 

      mog
      20th September 2015, 23:11

      And Maldonado’s lap was faster than everyone except the top two….
      1. 

         MattyPF1 (@mattypf1)
         20th September 2015, 23:44

         That might happen again when the next blue moon comes out
      2. 

         @HoHum (@hohum)
         20th September 2015, 23:46

         And Lewis way down the order, some very peculiar times recorded .
      3. 

         Pedro Côrte-Real (@pedrocr)
         20th September 2015, 23:54

         He was one of the few doing three-stops and his final stint was only 7 laps on the super-soft so that explains why he had that pace on lap 57.
         1. 

            ColdFly F1 ( @coldfly ) (@)
            21st September 2015, 11:58

            Correct. @pedrocr
            Actually the TR’s doing low 1:50’s on lap 43 (also new Super-Softs) is even more impressive. They had more fuel on board and had to manage the tyres for the remaining 18 laps.
   2. 

      David Brown
      21st September 2015, 9:56

      Jenson’s lap was faster than Alonso’s but dont forget it was later in the race, when he had less fuel on board and thusless weight
4. 

   AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
   20th September 2015, 21:56

   Today Ric gave all he got and it was not enough.
   1. 

      @HoHum (@hohum)
      20th September 2015, 23:50

      I think Ric gave enough but the Ferrari had the edge, a Ferrari engined RBR next year should worry SV.
   2. 

      sare
      21st September 2015, 9:21

      Vettel had better pace, Ricciardo had better deg. It was interesting.
5. 

   Albrecht
   20th September 2015, 22:36

   I dunno, it may be true, but I never got that impression during the race. If the SC hadn’t came when it did, and VET had pitted before RIC, RIC would have needed some serious pace for the undercut to work. On very old super-softs. The Red Bull had some very good tyre deg, but not that good.

   That of course assuming VET didn’t have pace to spare, which it might as well have been the case.

   In the next stint VET again built a 4s+ gap, this time he did it later, but still it showed that VET could build a big gap and still keep the tyres functional enough.

   All in all I don’t think it was luck, RB and RIC had no answer to VET today.
   1. 

      wert
      21st September 2015, 9:23

      He pulled 2 secs. It was horrible :D
6. 

   Mark Backes (@markf1)
   20th September 2015, 23:11

   Without safety cars Vettel would have cruised to the chequered flag on his own. If anything, Ricciardo’s chance at having a go at Vettel was a result of luck. Don’t get me wrong though – Ricciardo’s pace was impressive. But I doubt he would have took the fight to Vettel in a safety car free race.
7. 

   emuLOAD
   20th September 2015, 23:15

   One could conversely say that RIC was the lucky one, being the one lagging behind and seing twice annulled his built disadvantage.

   All in all, neither drivers were hit on the chin by the safety car, they both had a chance to pit during SC periods, and both had essentially the same race happen to them. Even when RIC was near VET, while VET was saving tires, he did not manage to bring much of a challenge.

   I’d say that all in all, both did a solid race, and the outcome was not actually influenced all that much by the SC stints. Still, a shame to see races interrupted.
8. 

   Joe pistone (@)
   20th September 2015, 23:20

   Vettel was like a puppet master, Dan was the puppet. Seb played with him the entire race, backing him up to Kimi then sprinting clear at will. That Singapore heat can play tricks on the mind.
9. 

   Pedro Côrte-Real (@pedrocr)
   20th September 2015, 23:49

   There seems to be something broken with the markup around the lap times chart.
10. 

    Chad (@chaddy)
    21st September 2015, 1:20

    Hmmm I seem to remember a certain 2014 Red Bull driver getting the lead of the race from a certain other Red Bull driver because of a safety car…
11. 

    faulty (@faulty)
    21st September 2015, 1:24

    It is telling isn’t it.

    Ricciardo’s driving, “dive on the inside this lap, didn’t work?, well I’ll try around the outside next time”, He’s all about the confidence, about believing he can do it or that he can have the car do what HE wants. I think that is an awesome approach to racing. I hope he can maintain that mental dexterity for a long time. I’m grateful that we can have that sort of guy going racing.
    1. 

       Oletros (@oletros)
       21st September 2015, 20:38

       @faulty What?
       1. 

          faulty (@faulty)
          22nd September 2015, 6:43

          Excuse me if I don’t get myself across too well this time around.

          The message I tried to convey on my first attempt is that the thought of “He got lucky” being expressed by DR in the midst of a race gives us spectators a glimpse into how his brain works. Watching the race from our advantageous POV with replays and stats and what not shown on TV, we get to see that SV had always a large degree of control on pace. But Daniel, he was always in the mindset of “I’ll get him next time”, and those overtakes we’ve seen from him come from that attitude, I think it was Alonso last year and Pérez this season, who blocked Ricciardo on the first try, but where caught off guard when he almost immediately went for it again. I meant to express that we are lucky to have a driver who believes he can get close/pass/race a competitor regardless of the capabilities of his equipment. By the same token, of all the racers, he is the most sensitive to an untrustworthy car, when he has been beaten by DK it has been one-sided because, from what we got to witness in Singapore, he really believes he can do it or else, he’s not enjoying it.

          Thankfully, days like the former are more frequent than the latter.
          1. 

             Patrick (@paeschli)
             22nd September 2015, 16:19

             @faulty I’d make the opposite analysis. He lacks realism. Thinking you can get in front of the car ahead while the car ahead is just controlling the pace shows you don’t analyze the situation very well. I wouldn’t call that a quality.
12. 

    Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
    21st September 2015, 6:29

    Ricciardo is being a bit silly and patronising. He was never in any position to challenge Vettel and if there had been no safety cars, the gap would have been even wider. Vettel proved that in the second stint when he toyed with Ricciardo for 8 laps and then suddenly pulled away, picking up over 2 seconds in a single lap. Maybe Vettel had heard about Ricciardo’s comment and wanted to show the latter who the lucky one really was.
    1. 

       F1Fan
       21st September 2015, 8:55

       I was thinking the same, VET owned RIC today, but nobody bringing it up.
13. 

    Lance (@lancelot)
    21st September 2015, 6:38

    Ricciardo just sounds silly, considering how much Vettel toyed with him after the SC, demonstrating that he can always up the pace. If anything, Ricciardo is the lucky one. Both times SC erased around 4-5 seconds of Vettel’s lead.
14. 

    Mr win or lose
    21st September 2015, 7:29

    @keithcollantine Maybe it’s just my computer, but for me it’s impossible to tick or untick the drivers in the graph.
15. 

    oya
    21st September 2015, 9:29

    Vettel had pace in abundance. He had worse deg though. But that alone was enough? Meh, I don’t think so. If Ric undercut with 1st stop, Vettel could do with 2nd…. But who knows. After SC, Vettel didn’t pull away and for a long time there Ric was within DRS but nothing happened on track either. Vettel pulling away 2 second – AGAIN – was gobsmacking anyway.
16. 

    AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
    21st September 2015, 9:38

    “After SC, Vettel didn’t pull away and for a long time there Ric was within DRS but nothing happened on track either.”

    I think that part of the stint was kind of embarrassing for Ric.
    1. 

       emuLOAD
       21st September 2015, 14:21

       I suspect it was (poor) strategy. The drive did not look like he was actually trying to pass VET. Perhaps they thought to somehow tire VET out, or at least his tyres, and pass him? I guess RIC’s strategy hinged on beating VET over a pit stop… Dangerous game in Singapore.
17. 

    russ
    21st September 2015, 14:38

    Well Daniel’s statement was no sillier than Lewis saying he had the pace to win. If he did he was hiding it well until he had problems.
18. 

    Arto (@r2d2)
    21st September 2015, 17:42

    @keithcollantine what does “very slow laps excluded” mean, when Max’s first was not excluded? Do you need help in implementing the Y-range selector? The plot is useless as it is now, because I want to have Max in, but zoom into the action at the bottom…

    I love these analysis articles, but the plots are not serving the designed purpose at all.

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