Ricciardo takes second Driver of the Weekend win of 2016

2016 Monaco Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend result

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Daniel Ricciardo won Driver of the Weekend for the second time in 2016 after narrowly missing out on victory in the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver took pole position for the race and seemed on course to win until a slow pit stop dropped him behind eventual winner Lewis Hamilton.

Daniel Ricciardo’s Monaco Grand Prix

A pit blunder left Ricciardo behind Hamilton
Almost half of you picked Ricciardo for Driver of the Weekend after he out-paced the Mercedes in practice, beat them to pole position and looked on course for victory in the race.

However for the second weekend running he made one more visit to the pit lane than was ideal – and the second one was ruined by a slow tyre change. That destroyed his chances of returning to the lead in front of Hamilton.

Ricciardo tried everything he could to reclaim the lead at a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult. But he had to settle for second place, and was clearly deeply unhappy at losing a likely win for the second grand prix in a row.

One of those days where I find myself gobsmacked by the level of talent in Formula 1; anyone who manages to get through a wet Monaco Grand Prix in one piece has surely earned their money. But as for the top dog, it’s the same as Spain for me – Daniel Ricciardo. Superb qualifying lap, in the perfect position to win but was ultimately let down by the team. Again. His performance in those opening laps was stunning.
@Jackysteeg

The obvious winner, practice, qualifying and race all had superb performances from him. If this was Team of the Weekend voting, that would have been a different situation altogether.
Ashwin (@Redbullf1)

He did everything perfectly. He owned the field, and he’d have won by miles if it wasn’t for that pit stop blunder.

Even losing ten seconds in the pits, had him come out right alongside Hamilton, which shows how fast he was in that in-lap.

Red Bull are usually razor-sharp with strategies, they’ve missed an open goal with Ricciardo here. Last race it was a tough call, and he had difficulties moving on from that. I wonder how this one will affect him: it’s not everyday that a win at Monaco is presented at you like this.
@Fer-no65

Monaco Grand Prix winners and losers

Perez claimed a rare podium for Force India
The two drivers who shared the podium with Ricciardo – race-winner Hamilton and Sergio Perez – also fared well in the voting:

The heroic bit [for Hamilton] wasn’t going out on dries but staying out on wets for so long. They clearly weren’t the right tyres for the conditions, but Hamilton managed to keep it out of the wall and kept Ricciardo behind him.
Adam Blocker (@blockwall2)

I loved seeing Hamilton win since I’m an unashamed super-fan, but I couldn’t look past Perez. His drive was stunning.
Chris (@Tophercheese21)

And McLaren equalled the best result of their current association with Honda, which several of you thought deserved rewarding:

I voted for Alonso. Q3 and fifth place should not be overlooked in that dog. A touch of class fitting for McLaren’s 50th anniversary.
@John-h

2016 Monaco Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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24 comments on “Ricciardo takes second Driver of the Weekend win of 2016”

  1. Oh well. 12 championship points to RIC

  2. I hope his luck will change in Canada and verstappen has a total offday like Verstappen had in Monaco.
    Otherwise all conspiracy theories will popup like daisies in spring, without looking at he root of the cause.

    He’s turning 27 pretty soon and he’s complaining that so far he never even was close to a World Championship.
    When Verstappen at the age of 18 and already a grandprix winner, leapfrogs Ricciardo in the coming race(s), his complaining might even get worse.

    I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but it looks like he’s one of those drivers suffering bad luck when it really matters.
    Instead of getting the rewards when it matters to rewrite racing history and move up the ladder accordingly.
    These drivers do have all the traits and skills of champions, but apparently “at showtime” are never in the right zone; and/or in the right team at the right time.
    I think if you put Ricciardo in a Merc and Hamilton in a Red Bull, Ricciardo will beat Rosberg and Hamilton fair and square.

    So comes it all down to bad luck or is it just part of Ricciardo’s karma?

    1. I hope both Red Bulls will perform well in Canada. The track doesn’t really suit the car, so it will probably be a fight with Ferrari for best of the rest. With a good strategy a third place will be the maximum result for Ricciardo.

    2. Well to be honest I could do without his complaining. I understand his frustration but he has to learn to express it at the right persons inside closed doors and not at the media. He makes Red Bull look bad and with Verstappen ready to capitalize lets just say it’s not so wise to do so.

      Unless he is already planning a move… I would love to see him in Mercedes vs Lewis!

    3. ColdFly F1 (@)
      3rd June 2016, 16:13

      a total offday like Verstappen had in Monaco.

      I have been very critical of Verstappen’s 3 crashes over the weekend.
      But I don’t think we should call this an total off-day. Verstappen overtook 8 cars on track; and all that in half a Monaco GP. That’s actually quite impressive.

      1. Gotta finish before race position matters… And verstappen DNF…

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          3rd June 2016, 23:08

          I’m one of those suckers who enjoys the racing more than the final score. Still critical of the crashes though.

      2. Why? he had fastest car on the grid in Monaco and the back markers didn’t fight him.. Senna nearly took the whole grid in a Toleman in the rain..

  3. I think Checo should be the DOTW as he exceeded what his car can yield. Dan simply had the best car in monte carlo.

    1. So in future if a drivers on pole or front row and wins or even podiums they shouldn’t be considered for DOTW cause they had the best car. Take away every Merc drivers DOTW win for the past 3 years and every Red Bull drivers DOTW win from the 4 years before that then since they simply had the best car.

  4. I agree with the folks above about Daniel expressing his frustrations. He sent utterly wrong message about his team by doing so. It was a mistake by the team, we all know that, but everyone in the team shares the same sentiment about the race outcome. So, it’s a ‘bit’ unwise to heal your wounds by rubbing salt into wounds of your team members. I’m sure his time is coming and Max is no match to him. Cheer up mate!

  5. Future articles like these could we get a top 3 table or maybe incorporate it as a season long top 3 table with some numbers? I think they existed last year.

  6. Couldn’t disagree more with DOTW… If you act like an entitled child, you definitely don’t deserve it.

    Furthermore, he’s setting bad presidence. Nico hulkenberg’s tweets prove that…

    1. That’s why the polls about the driver of the weekend not how the driver acted of the weekend, poll is based on how they drove not how they acted. I’d avoid ever reading too much into anything anyone tweets…

  7. I think people are being a little hard on Ricciardo here. Yes he spat the dummy and lost it. But generally he’s far less of moaner than most other drivers and certainly when compared to other winners.
    A common trait of champions is that they are utterly selfish. In a way I’m glad to see it meant that much to him

  8. Neil (@neilosjames)
    3rd June 2016, 21:40

    Whenever a sportsman moans, I try to put myself in their position and consider how I would have felt/behaved in the same situation.

    Having done that, I think Ricciardo’s reaction was entirely understandable.

  9. In the formula one official site, checo won driver of the race

  10. Hamilton looked like good in this race as well.

  11. The Skeptic
    4th June 2016, 3:13

    Ricciardo drove like a World Champion. Being called in for the “intermediates” in the first pit-stop was completely unnecessary – he had track position and a big lead and Hamilton had no hope. Being left stranded in the pits on the second stop for slicks was inexcusable, and he was absolutely right to express his frustration.

    Hamilton also drove a great race. The stint on wets was mind-blowing – he made Rosberg look silly when chasing Ricciardo – and defended well against Ricciardo when he inherited the lead. His stint on the ultra-softs was also super-impressive – he kept them alive well enough for 40+ laps to set fastest lap close to the end of the race!

    1. I can’t remember a pit stop looking so amateurish… It actually looked like a scene from a bad comedy…

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        4th June 2016, 14:33

        @madme ironic isn’t it? You try to win the race on strategy and end up losing it by trying too hard…

  12. He deserves it.

  13. An excellent race. Ricardo will get used to bad luck. Most if not all of them can complain of bad luck at one time or another.

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