Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2019

Ricciardo: Second row start “sweeter” than beating Red Bull

2019 Canadian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by and

Daniel Ricciardo says he is more satisfied to have taken a place on the second row of the grid than to have beaten his former team Red Bull.

The Renault driver said his fourth place result in qualifying was “sweeter” than the knowledge Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly will start behind him.

“I better go see Helmut [Marko],” joked Ricciardo. “I’ve got to make the most of it while I can.”

“The second row is very sweet, for sure. We knew that once Max was out we knew Q3 we could have a real run. In Q2 Gasly was about four-tenths ahead of me but I wasn’t that happy with my lap in Q2 so I knew there was some free time for me to take. So I knew Q3 could be interesting but he also had two sets of new tyres so I was like ‘it’ll need to be a perfect lap, I think, to get him’.”

Ricciardo not only out-qualified Gasly but also took advantage of a scruffy Q3 for Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

“To then get Valtteri as well… I saw Valtteri had a spin, I don’t know what happened on his second run. It was cool. Just put it together, I’m still quite excited.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

The characteristics of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve make it a surprising venue for Renault to score such a strong result, Ricciardo added.

“I definitely got more comfortable with the car really each weekend I do. I think [that’s] three Q3s in a row now.

“That’s showing also just with the engineering team we’ve hardly touched the car all weekend so I think coming into the weekend they kind of know more or less what I need from the car and what I like. When you don’t touch a car much on a race weekend it’s like there’s a good correlation between us and that’s also giving me confidence now just to drive a car that I know and getting familiar with it.

“I knew we could be a chance of Q3 here, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t think this would be a stand-out. There’s fast chicanes, a lot of kerbs and stuff, that’s one thing we’ve been trying to make as good as the Red Bull is. The Red Bull was always very good on braking and kerbing and absorbing bumps. We’ve come a long way I think since Melbourne and it’s pretty nice to get that around here.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2019 F1 season

Browse all 2019 F1 season articles

12 comments on “Ricciardo: Second row start “sweeter” than beating Red Bull”

  1. Ricciardo: Second row start “sweeter” than beating Red Bull

    it was a good result and shows Riccoardo and Renault are improving. Yes I know Bottas and Verstappen would have qualified in front, but you take what thrown up at you and as usual Ricciardo was able to take advantage of the situation.

    1. Exactly. I quite enjoyed the surprises and upsets during this qualifying, this one included. For once it wasn’t a comedy of errors, but the teams and drivers pushing at the edge with a changing track.
      Even the friendly and happy tone between Lewis and Seb at the end was a great thing to see.

  2. Good capitalizing on others mistakes. That’s the RIC we know so good to see that’s still there at Renault. It is telling that Gasly was actually saying he was happy with the result.

    1. RIC beat both RB drivers in a lesser car. And only 0.8s behind pole, and 0.6s behind the best MERC.
      Max was beaten by both GAS and RIC fair and square.
      @anunaki

  3. Well done DanRic! Keep out of the melee of the top 3.
    Once SV takes out CL for his impunity in overtaking him at turn 3.
    A PODIUM FOR DANRIC!

  4. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
    9th June 2019, 7:20

    Ricciardo capitalizing on mistakes as usual. He feels like Alonso sometimes. He gets it right when it matters.

  5. This is the kind of thing I started hoping for as soon as Ric switched to Renault.
    Better late than never and hopefully a taste of things to come.

  6. This is exactly the kind of exposure Ricciardo was gambling on when making the switch to Renault. One or two more like this and he’s on the top team’s shortlist again, unlike getting constantly beat by Verstappen at Red Bull.

    1. Top teams shortlist…? Would they really want to sign the driver than got beaten by a faster driver 9 out of 10…?
      Dan proved he’s not mediocre like Hulkenberg who beat Sainz and Perez…who beat Ocon, but that leaves Verstappen to be really exceptional having beaten Dan soundly on pace.

      1. Well done, turning a story about Dan somehow into a Max advert.

      2. Matn of the three yrs Ricciardo and Verstappen were team mates Verstappen only beat Ricciardo in 2018 after some very questionable failures with DRs car, yet he still out qualified him in Mexico 2018 lol.
        Verstappen has has always been very quick, now he is maturing and is turning into a reliable driver able to pick his moments rather than just trying to crash through.
        If he continues to grow as a driver he may eventually be as good as Ricciardo :))
        You have a nice day.

  7. Danny Ric:- “you need big aaahhh… something that rhymes with walls…” Well done mate, mega lap and genuinely going in the right direction the last few races. It will be interesting to see their big update in PR.

Comments are closed.