Daniel Ricciardo said he was “pretty pumped” after completing an unorthodox pass on Valtteri Bottas for fifth place in the Italian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver was celebrating in his cockpit after successfully lunging down the inside of the Williams driver at the Rettifilio chicane.
“I was behind Valtteri for a long part in the middle of the race and once you get close you start to damage your tyres a bit,” Ricciardo explained.
“They’re so quick on the straight. I never got as close as I had that lap. And even though it was far back I thought maybe this is as close as I’ll get. So have a go, why not?”
“I don’t want to leave Sunday night thinking ‘if only I’d tried this or that’ so I thought I’ll try. And he’s fair, I knew he wasn’t going to turn into me and cause an accident. And I could see he already covered a bit so I knew he was aware that I was close so I just thought ‘let’s go’. I think we didn’t touch, as far as I know it was clean. So good fun.”
Ricciardo was unable to continue his run of podium finishes at Monza but said the team couldn’t have finished any higher at the track.
“Especially the last few races, finishing on the podium, you obviously hope now for a podium every race,” he said.
“Realistically we knew Ferrari was going to come into here with an edge on us. We knew Williams, Force India would be strong s fifth was our objective and obviously I got that, just missed it yesterday, so I was obviously very determined to get it today.”
AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
4th September 2016, 15:05
Not sure about “stunning”. Pass was nice but tires difference huge. Not even close to Perez on Massa last week.
Indina
4th September 2016, 15:17
Bottas left the Door open……pretty easy
Arnoud van Houwelingen
4th September 2016, 20:06
Bottas looked in the mirror and thought that Ricciardo was too far behind. I think that is the reason he left the door open cause he never thought Ricciardo would pull that one off. Why would he block Hamilton earlier in the same spot when he knows Hamilton will pass him eventually whereas with Ricciardo he has a chance to keep in front.
James B
2nd December 2016, 9:57
I’d like to see you try to pass Bottas when he leaves the door open
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
4th September 2016, 16:13
If he had tried that on Verstappen – there’d be 2 open spots at Red Bull.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
4th September 2016, 16:39
Hahha… +1
Mark
6th September 2016, 9:40
Nahhh…..just one actually.
Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
6th September 2016, 17:51
If Max wouldn’t realize the car attempting to pass was the other RedBull, yes, for sure.
kpcart
4th September 2016, 16:51
No, it was stunning, tire difference aside it was from very far back
72defender (@72defender)
4th September 2016, 19:54
+1
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
5th September 2016, 5:58
Ric was almost under the horizon when he went for that move, he didn’t even slightly pinch a brake, pure race craft.. Ric is most complete racer currently on the grid, Bot was caught out by the distance, though all credit to Bot he gave him room when Ric was under him..
And for all those who said Seb had signed a new deal for Ferrari and wasn’t motivated against Ric….you are dreaming!!!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th September 2016, 9:31
@nosehair
That’s a great way of putting it – I wish I’d written that!
Note to self: steal that line.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
5th September 2016, 11:09
Employ me Keith, l can be your darkside and give balance to your site!!! ..and also put a stop to this love affair thing you having going on with Button.
Eggry (@eggry)
4th September 2016, 15:06
because of power unit performance, Max’s race was basically stagnated and Ricciardo should have been either. Still he managed P5 with stunning move on Bottas. I’ve never seen such a long shot working without overrun or crash. My hat’s off to him!
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
4th September 2016, 15:12
Easily DOTW again. The only driver to have been performing at top level all season.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
4th September 2016, 16:02
Easy, only because no other really stood out… Superb performance, he makes Max overtakes look clumsy…
Matn
4th September 2016, 17:03
Like to move from Verstappen on Perez WITHOUT DRS you mean, c’mon get real, it was a walk in the park for Ricciardo.
Dom (@3dom)
4th September 2016, 15:16
Fantastic pass. I get frustrated when sometimes drivers don’t have a go. It’s great when on does. It really surprised me the he went for it, and it was so well pulled of. Reminded me of Hamilton on Raikonnen about 8 years ago. Quality
kpcart
4th September 2016, 16:53
I think that Hamiltons behst ever pass
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
4th September 2016, 15:16
Yep agree with you porsche best driver of the year to date l
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
4th September 2016, 15:27
I didn’t think it was “stunning” either. It looked impressive but Bottas played a big part in keeping it clean and preventing an accident from happening. Bottas had no right to take the line he did but if he didn’t, it probably will have resulted in an accident. Even so, they both dealt with it very well and that which made it look like a very good, clean overtake.
kpcart
4th September 2016, 16:56
What do you expect bottas to do? Block early? Bottas did what ever y driver does when the car behind is far back, stck to the racing line. It was a great pass.
Matn
4th September 2016, 17:05
what he should have done is cover the inside, that would have prevented Ricciardo making such an easy move, it would have forced Ricciardo to make his move round the much more difficut outside. Bottas didn’t expect Ricciardo along side, he must have given up already….
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
4th September 2016, 17:49
When Bottas was getting overtaken, he chose to move off his racing line. All I’m saying is that if he didn’t do this, Ricciardo would have hit him. That is why I said that it was largely down to the room Bottas gave that made that made Ricciardo’s overtake successful. From what I remember, on the Channel 4 coverage, Ricciardo commented that what he did was risky and that if Bottas hadn’t taken the line he did, it could have resulted badly. I think Cristian Horner mentioned this afterwards also.
EC (@dutch-1)
4th September 2016, 21:49
Agree +100.
It was a risky move, but success was very much depending on the other driver to go out of the way.
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
5th September 2016, 15:24
In fairness, knowing your opponent is part of the game.
You cant take anything away from RIC just because BOT left the room. RIC would have factored that in to his decision to go for it.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
4th September 2016, 15:31
Pass of the year for me. Reminded me of Hamilton in 2007.
Michael
4th September 2016, 15:53
Not seen Silverstone this year? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMailJg_r04 even without using DRS
But have seen your posts through the week, def. trying to bash VES most of the time.
you’d recon this is for example a more difficult pass than a DRS pass
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
4th September 2016, 16:09
That pass would be runner up for me. Verstappen is a very good driver, but I just find it very hard to like him. I find him to be the most unlikeable driver on the grid. His attitude annoys me, not so much his defensive maneuvers.
Sam (@crunch)
4th September 2016, 16:16
No, I agree with @ultimateuzair.
The grip difference between Verstappen and Rosberg in your clip is far more than the difference between Bottas and Ricciardo today.
Call me biased, but Verstappen needed to block Rosberg on the run up to Stowe.
All Ricciardo needed to do was a hand gesture.
That’s why Verstappen doesn’t get much admiration from me.
kpcart
4th September 2016, 17:00
perez pass at spa was pass of the year for me. Ricciardos pass was old school, great also, not many drivers are brave enough to try such late outbrakes anymore, such that it catches the driver in front unaware.
Matn
4th September 2016, 15:35
Stunning…? It was a 9 out of 10 easy DRS pass, Bottas wasn’t paying attention at all.
In a previous lap Bottas fiercly defended his position against Hamilton, where have we seen that before…. in fact nowhere else this complete race…
Michael
4th September 2016, 15:47
exactly my thoughts.. Brave overtake, but have seen better overtakes this season, especially from his teammate VES, without the use of gadgets, only a great set of balls.
kpcart
4th September 2016, 17:03
The drs had nothing to do with ricciardos pass either, his car hitan aerodynamic brick wall, it was all the driver
Matn
4th September 2016, 17:08
It was all about a driver not defending at all….
I kind of feel we need the discussion from last week the other way round, all bashing Bottas for ruining what could have been an exciting moment…could have been. And I am joking ofcourse.
Mark
6th September 2016, 9:47
Fiercly but not late…..you have seen it before but not where you thought.
AceAce
4th September 2016, 15:55
Wish I was pumped after watching that travesty. Next time I hear toto say that Ferrari’s engine is on par with Mercedes. Another point how do Mercedes have such an advantage over force India and Williams in Monza. Please don’t say their chassis.
anon
4th September 2016, 17:44
AceAce, the current Williams car is known to suffer from pretty terrible rear traction and poor mechanical grip in general – they themselves state that, and you can see that when the car falls down the grid at a rate of knots in wet weather – which is compounded by the fact that Williams also suffer from very high rear tyre wear (they’re probably one of the worst teams for tyre management).
Monza happens to be a circuit where rear traction is particularly important given the number of slow chicanes the driver has to accelerate out of. Furthermore, the current Williams car also suffers from quite a few problems with the aero balance – they’ve admitted that the aero balance is too far forward on the current car, which compromises the stability of the car under heavy braking.
Melvin (@)
4th September 2016, 16:49
I do think bottas was thinking points. He wasn’t really defending hard.
Martijn (@)
4th September 2016, 17:03
DRS, late braking and BOT not paying attention is a great move? Wow, audience has adapted well to the boredom. I think I’ll ask my granny to start racing too
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
5th September 2016, 11:30
Martijn l dont know how long you have followed F1 for , but the experts were god smacked at that move.
azza
4th September 2016, 17:23
everyone complains there is no over takes and then when they overtake complain about it???? ric came from way back, braked late, didn’t lock up, hit the apex, gave bottas a cars width and didn’t drive him off track (cough, rosberg) then drove around the outside at the next corner. drs or not, perfect overtake.
ric said after the race that he knew bottas was a fair racer and that is why he tried it, not sure he would have done the same thing against his teammate??
Peppermint-Lemon (@)
4th September 2016, 18:56
Danny Ric just might well be the very best there currently is in F1.
Jeroen Bons
4th September 2016, 19:14
Defending is banned from F1. No driver on the grid wants to endure and to risk the wagonloads of criticism MV had to endure just recently. The all do their best to behave like gentlemen, leaving the door open. But after all it is called smart racing. In a fairly dull race any pass is worth watching. I am exaggerating of course, but still.
Lauri (@f1lauri)
4th September 2016, 19:48
“And he’s fair, I knew he wasn’t going to turn into me and cause an accident.” Great driving from both and even more reason to dislike some drivers who don’t have such respect… who give reasons like “why should I let him pass” etc.
Great overtake by RIC. Great driving and not crashing by BOT.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
4th September 2016, 22:53
Yep, I’m giving BOT my DOTW for how well he drove at Monza. He well and truly out-performed his teammate and also quickly and sensibly realised what would happen if he tried to defend this one against RIC. It cost him a couple of points but put Williams back in front of FI. Great qualifying and race.
Matn
5th September 2016, 9:29
Omg… have we come to level that we are supporting drivers for NOT defending…?
Bottas could have least taken the inside line going in to the corner… he just kept the straight line all the way.
Why did he defended against Hamilton, why didn’t he even flinch when Ricciardo passed by?
My guess…? Bottas didn’t expected it, is that great driving..? I call that caught by surprise, which is hardly a compliment.
Younger Hamii (@younger-hamii)
4th September 2016, 22:40
It’s surprising how Ricciardo has been doing these “banzi” overtakes on drivers since he’s been known for them, most of them successful, and yet drivers have failed to adapt to his ambitious race craft. Granted, he’s on the softer/better tyres on those occasions and putting up a defence is inevitably futile but I would’ve expected everyone on the grid to expect the unexpected from him at least.
Although I guess what’s telling about this is that Ricciardo seems to have a surprise up his sleeve in wheel-to-wheel combat. Refreshing to see.
Mike (@mike)
4th September 2016, 23:34
Certainly he seems to have a knack for it.
George (@george)
6th September 2016, 17:53
@younger-hamii
The problem is if you defend when he’s anywhere close you lose bag loads of time, and compromise your exit from the corner. If Bottas defended every lap Ricciardo would have probably gotten him into the next chicane instead.
abashrawi
5th September 2016, 21:00
I don’t know, probably don’t understand as well, but isn’t this the exact same move Kimi tried on Bottas last year in Russia only with different reaction from Bottas?
George (@george)
6th September 2016, 18:01
In short, no. The corner is much faster which has a knock-on effect to braking length, reaction time, available lines, and no runoff if it goes wrong. Kimi really had no chance there, I don’t know what he was thinking.
Johnny H.
6th September 2016, 6:30
Max’s overtake(without DRS) on Perez was even more stunning and that was just a plain overtake.