Ferrari would have been hard to beat today – Ricciardo

2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo reckons Ferrari would have been hard to beat had they been able to start from pole position.

Technical problems struck Sebastian Vettel on Saturday and Kimi Raikkonen on Sunday in Malaysia. Raikkonen would have started from the front row but his car developed a fault before the race began.

2017 Malaysian GP in pictures
Vettel started last on the grid after being unable to participate in qualifying and raced from the back of the grid to finish fourth behind Ricciardo.

“I think Seb showed if both Ferraris started at the front they would have been hard to beat today,” said Ricciardo.

However he believed the RB13 will be competitive at other venues later this year. “I think looking at Suzuka, Austin, we can be there I think in hot conditions we’re not going too bad. I think we can at least stand on this podium a few more times.”

Ricciardo said he was “not too disappointed” at finishing third while team mate Max Verstappen won. “I feel like I did all I could.”

“The only thing I think I would say is the start. Obviously Valtteri [Bottas] chose to go on the outside in turn one and that was the better line to take. The inside in the end was probably not the best choice, it was the more a conservative line and not the aggressive one.”

“Obviously then I lost time to Valtteri and that pout me too far [out of] reach to put pressure on Hamilton. Towards the end of that super-soft stint the pace was pretty good, we were starting to peel a bit of the gap. But then they pitted on the soft and again pulled out the gap. So didn’t really have the pace towards the end. Vettel was coming, so my race then was kind of just holding onto the podium and I was at least satisfied to do that.”

“I’m not too discouraged,” Ricciardo added. “Max obviously did really well. I’m happy to leave here on the podium. I won last year but it’s honestly never been my favourite track.”

2017 Malaysian 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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    4 comments on “Ferrari would have been hard to beat today – Ricciardo”

    1. If Dan had got passed Bottas in a lap, he would have been able to take the fight to Lewis.

      That Merc isn’t easy to pass in straight line, Max capitalized on Lewis’ battery derate issue (confirm by Hornet post race).

      1. I dont think there was ever any “issue”, Hamilton just needed more power than was availible. Maybe he stuck it into racestart mode for to long trying to pull a gap and it depleated his energylevels while max stuck with him by being fast in the corners.

    2. It’s painful being a Ferrari fan these last two races. Kimi and Vettel could have both won either of them if it weren’t for the issues, especially as this weekend was entirely down to engine issues.

      Nevertheless there is still a quarter of the season to go

      1. @strontium it really is especially that we know they had the fastest car over the 2 previous races. Vettel could have been leading by around 15 points without these incidents. Having said that, i was encouraged by Vettel’s pace today. If Ferrari could keep this up and if Vettel doesn’t get a gearbox penalty, he could still win the championship although everything needs to be perfect now.

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