Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Everybody loves Daniel

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Here’s a Formula 1 story we can all enjoy, the ever increasing love being shown for Daniel Ricciardo! Here’s a selection of quotes said about our Dan in the wake of his Hungarian Grand Prix win.

Luke Smith, NBC: When speaking to Daniel in the paddock, it’s quite clear that he is two things. Firstly: highly determined and gunning to win (as is any racing driver). Secondly: a genuinely friendly person. It’s very rare to leave a press briefing with Daniel without a smile nearly as big as his own.

This is all very good news for Formula 1. Bernie Ecclestone has said in the past that the sport needs a superstar, and Daniel could be exactly that, but not in the conventional sense. He is someone who the fans can connect to.

Kevin Eason, The Times: No one—not even Horner and his Red Bull team—believed the Australian would be so good. Actually, he has not been good, he has been spectacular. This is a champ in the making.

Sky Sports F1: In a season of such dominance by one team which isn’t your own, Ricciardo’s pair of victories in Canada and especially Hungary are all the more commendable and the qualities shown on both of those occasions as he charged to unexpected wins—consistent pace, impressive tyre management and, most notably of all, bold and incisive overtaking moves when it mattered—have made the paddock sit up and take notice and mark the ever-smiley 25-year-old out as surely a future World Champion in the making. The surprise star of the season without question.

Jim Peltz, LA Times: Two months ago the idea would have been laughable: Red Bull Racing’s rookie Daniel Ricciardo winning the Formula One championship. Now, the notion still remains highly unlikely but not nearly so ludicrous. Overtaking both Mercedes drivers would be a very tall order. But there are eight races left in the season. And there’s a season-ending quirk this year. Formula One will award double points to drivers in the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

And if Ricciardo closes the gap significantly by then, Abu Dhabi could prove highly entertaining.

Edd Straw, Autosport+: Half a season in a top car and a couple of victories does not automatically mean a driver has earned his place among the elite, but Ricciardo has been so convincing that it’s difficult to imagine he won’t consolidate his status over the seasons to come. At 25, he looks like he will be a real force to be reckoned with for the next decade.

Let’s hope we do see Daniel continue on his upwards trajectory and one day claiming a world championship. It’s great for Aussie F1 fans to see him take the mantle as Australia’s unofficial ambassador from Mark Webber with such good humour and, of course, blinding pace.

[Source: Fox Sports | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Video

I’m spinning around, move out of my way

Sebastian Vettel spins at the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

It’s been said that Sebastian Vettel has suffered a fair amount of bad luck so far in the 2014 Formula 1 season. Perhaps that’s all about to change as his 360° spin during the Hungarian Grand Prix shows, captured here by a fan at the race. While there was a reasonable amount of talent required to avoid major contact with the pit wall, there was also a fair degree of good fortune.

[Source: WTF1]

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Peter Windsor on Daniel Ricciardo

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

If you’re still enjoying in the afterglow of Daniel Ricciardo’s win at the Hungarian Grand Prix then you probably won’t mind listening to Peter Windsor wax lyrical about the race. You can do that after the break, which includes a repeat of Windsor’s prediction that Daniel would/could win in Budapest.

Categories
Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Determination, courage, pride and, most of all, talent; Daniel Ricciardo has them all. His results so far in 2014 have exceeded expectations and let’s hope that continues for some time yet.

You can relive Daniel’s victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix below. There’s over 100 photos on offer and some of them even feature subjects other than Daniel and his winning celebrations!

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Hungarian GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

It’s always a great feeling being a Formula 1 fan in Australia when you go to bed late at night after an Aussie victory and you wake up on Monday morning and hear all about the race win on the morning news bulletins. It’s a great way to start the week. Thank you Daniel!

The most pleasing thing about Ricciardo’s win at the Hungarian Grand Prix was the way he had to fight for it. Same with Canada, too, he hasn’t yet dominated a race from start to finish. That’s a legacy of not having the best car this year. It’s meant Daniel has had to either create opportunities for himself or take advantage of good luck coming his way during a race.

It seems odd to say it, given he’s the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race so far in 2014, but Daniel’s two wins have been great development for him as a driver. He’s still learning and he’s proving he has the bottle and the skill to fight for race wins. Let’s hope it’s not too long until we see him fighting for a world championship. Clearly, he has the class.

Even Fernando and Lewis agree, as you will read below.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Daniel Ricciardo wins 2014 Hungarian GP

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

What the hell just happened? I’ll tell you what happened, Daniel Ricciardo just won the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix! That’s what just happened.

Proving the Murray Walkerism that “Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does” Fernando Alonso finished second and Lewis Hamilton, who started from the pit lane, finished third. So, again, what the hell just happened!

The track was wet for the race start and all the drivers started on intermediates. Nico Rosberg made a clean getaway and went about opening up a sizeable gap to those behind. Valtteri Bottas showed some smarts off the line and overtook Sebastian Vettel at the first corner to claim P2.

Daniel lost a couple of places at the start and was in P6 but worked his way back to P5. Marcus Ericsson then had his most influential F1 race to date after he binned his car and invited the Safety Car onto the track.

The timing was such that Daniel was able to quickly dive into the pits for slick tyres while the first four cars had to do almost a complete lap behind the Safety Car. The wash up of all that saw a fortunate Daniel inherit the race lead.

After the Safety Car came in, off he went. The lead was lost briefly to Jenson Button, who was running intermediates on the still drying track, but that didn’t last and Dan reclaimed the lead which he held until lap 22.

Sergio Perez spun on the last corner and smashed his car into the pit wall, which brought out the Safety Car for a second time. Again, Ricciardo was quick to pit, a move which eventually worked to his benefit.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was able to make solid progress through the field despite starting from pit lane and then spinning off the track momentarily on lap 2. By the end of the first Safety Car period he had risen to P7, only two places behind Rosberg.

Amazingly, as the race progressed it looked as though Hamilton could be in with a chance of victory. Fernando Alonso, too, was having a good run and inherited the lead of the race after Ricciardo came in for fresh tyres with 15 laps to go.

Daniel rejoined the race in good shape and set about chasing those ahead of him including Alonso, Hamilton and Rosberg. Alonso’s strategy required him to do 32 laps in his final stint and Hamilton, too, was on old tyres. Rosberg also came in for a pit stop, gifting P3 to Daniel, before he also started chasing the leading trio.

Alonso was able to hold Hamilton and Ricciardo at bay with clean defensive driving. However, his pace was slowing as his tyres lost more life and this closed the gap to little more than a second back to Ricciardo in P3. On newer tyres Daniel needed a couple of attempts to get past Hamilton for P2, but showed great racecraft to out manouevre his more experienced rival. He quickly caught Alonso and used DRS to great effect to maximise a half chance and take the lead.

With only three laps to go Ricciardo was able to build a safe margin, leaving Alonso to defend against Hamilton and a super quick Rosberg. Somehow the superior Mercedes pair could not do what Daniel did and overtake Alonso. The race settled with a totally unpredictable first three and Rosberg left to rue his chances in P4.

Felipe Massa was fifth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen (his best result since returning to Ferrari). Sebastian Vettel was seventh and had only himself to blame after a final corner spin on lap 32. He was lucky not to have crashed out but did sufficient damage to his tyres to ruin his chances of a better result.

Valtteri Bottas’ day was cruelled by unfortunate pit timing and he could only manage P8. While Jean-Eric Vergne and Jenson Button rounded out the top 10.

His second grand prix win seemed to sit better with a beaming Daniel Ricciardo, who showed he has no fear or talent deficit with the world champions he’s mixing it with. It’s a great result for the young Aussie as the teams go into the mid-season break before racing returns at Spa in late August.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Hungarian GP: Qualifying report

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg’s charmed run has continued after he claimed pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix. On his last lap in Q3 Rosberg (1:22.715) snatched pole by a comfortable margin from Sebastian Vettel (1:23.201). Valtteri Bottas (1:23.354) once again has his Williams in the mix and qualified third.

The big story, though, was Lewis Hamilton suffering yet another mishap during qualifying. The 2008 world champion was fastest in all three practice sessions and went into Q1 with justified confidence. Alas, early in the session his car suffered a fuel leak which caused a fire. Making matters worse Mercedes has to build a up a new chassis forcing Lewis to start the race from pit lane.

For only the fourth time in 11 races Daniel Ricciardo (1:23.391) will start behind his Red Bull teammate. He will line up on the second row in P4 and said the lack of tyre temps after the rain shower prevented him from achieving a better qualifying result.

“The car feels pretty good this weekend,” said Ricciardo. “In Q1 and Q2 we were looking good, but when the rain came in Q3 we couldn’t get the temperature back in the tyres quick enough for one timed lap so I’m a bit disappointed not to be further up the grid.

“It would be good to be on the front row, but fourth isn’t a disaster. It’s hard to overtake around this circuit, so we need to aim to make as few stops tomorrow as possible.”

Fernando Alonso (1:23.909) and Felipe Massa (1:24.223) will share the third row. Jenson Button (1:24.294) will start alongside Jean-Eric Vergne (1:24.720). While Nico Hulkenberg (1:24.775) and Daniil Kyvat (1:24.706) round out the top 10.

Kyvat inherits P10 after Kevin Magnussen crashed out early in Q3. Light rain fell in between Q2 and Q3 and the wettest part of the track was Turn 1. On his first flying lap early in Q3 Magnussen misjudged the track and locked his brakes into Turn 1 before skidding into the tyre barriers at pace. He emerged unhurt but his car required signficant work and he will start from pit lane ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen made headlines too after he failed to progress to Q2, thanks to a last gasp effort from Marussia’s Jules Bianchi. The young Frenchman is signed to the Ferrari Driver Academy and is tipped to progress to the Scuderia when a place becomes available. Which presumably means Kimi needs to raise his game.

Only an outright disaster or car failure will prevent Rosberg from using his sixth pole position for the year to increase his championship lead over the luckless Lewis Hamilton. Indeed, on the tight Hungaroring layout Hamilton will just be happy if he can make the top 10 and claim a championship point.

Categories
Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2014 German Grand Prix in pictures

2014 German Grand Prix

Winning your home grand prix would be pretty cool. We’ve seen it twice in two races now thanks to Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Here’s your chance to relive Nico’s German Grand Prix win.

We’re only sorry we don’t have photos of Daniil Kvyat’s car on fire or Adrian Sutil doing donuts on the main straight while spinning out of the race.

As for choosing to keep the Safety Car in the garage and forcing the marshals to scamper out to retrieve Sutil’s abandoned car; that wouldn’t have had anything to do with protecting the German driver’s lead in the German Grand Prix would it?

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Is Dan, is good!

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing

One of the highlights from the 2014 German Grand Prix was the battle between Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso. Two-time world champion Alonso eventually won that battle for fifth place, but he was very impressed with the driving abilities of our Daniel.

“Daniel is a surprise from Australia,” Alonso told Sky Sports F1 after the race. “I think he’s doing unbelievable; I think he’s seven-three [in qualifying] in the first ten races with Sebastian [Vettel], so it’s something we probably didn’t suspect.

“He’s driving fantastically and today he was battling very smart—always taking the slipstream of me after I pass him and braking very late, attacking very late and never missing a corner.

“He was very, very smart, very respectful with the rules and it was a great fight.”

Alonso later added he was managing fuel towards the end of the race and was lucky not to concede P4 back to Daniel on the last lap.

“For the last stint I was saving fuel but I was battling with Ricciardo,” he said. “So for some laps you have to decide to give up the position and cross the line or fight with Ricciardo and be on the limit to cross the line.

“I decide to fight with Ricciardo, be in the position and then I will try to manage the fuel as good as I can.

“On the last lap, I had to save fuel massively and I was in eighth gear all lap and it was lucky that there was not 100 metres more.”

[Source: Sky Sports F1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing Video

2014 German GP: Felipe Massa crash

Felipe Massa crashes out at the 2014 German Grand Prix

Amateur footage uploaded to YouTube gives us another look at the opening lap crash from the 2014 German Grand Prix involving Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen. You can also see Daniel Ricciardo forced way off track to avoid the incident.

The race stewards investigated the crash and decided neither Massa nor Magnussen were responsible and no further action was taken. Of course, the drivers don’t always see it like that.

“Luckily I am OK but I am not happy,” said Felipe Massa. “I was in front going into the corner, and so to have another race ended by another driver is not easy. I am doing my best, the team are doing their best, and we just aren’t getting the chances we need.

“Going into the first corner I was near to Valtteri but had to back off to stop an accident, sadly some others didn’t do the same. I am obviously very disappointed.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen defended himself saying he was unable to avoid contact with Massa.

“A real pity: I think I could’ve had a decent race if I hadn’t had the accident at Turn One,” Magnussen said. “I need to see a replay of the accident, but I feel that, if I’d had somewhere to go, then there wouldn’t have been contact with Felipe.

“I did my best to try and avoid the accident, but there wasn’t much else I could do.”

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

About a boy

Sebastian Vettel

Taking any opportunity to get stuck into Sebastian Vettel is something most Australians like to indulge in. Until this year we’ve been used to seeing young Seb toy with our Mark as the young charge did as he pleased with the best car on the grid.

So far 2014 has been a nightmare for Vettel. In addition to having a relatively poor car, where poor equals not streets ahead of the competition, Sebastian has had to deal with the arrival of another pesky Australian. This time, though, Vettel is in the senior role and Daniel Ricciardo is playing the part of precocious upstart.

And isn’t our Daniel playing that role well! In the intra-team battle Ricciardo is currently dominating Vettel in much the same way the German dominated Mark Webber in previous years. Not only has Daniel chalked up his first grand prix win, he’s allowed some of the more biased Aussie F1 fans (erm, that would be us, and probably you too) to take their Vettel schadenfreude to new levels.

So when we saw this article on the BBC website titled “Sebastian Vettel says Formula 1 can be ‘very cruel'” we were ready to laugh and poke fun at Seb.

Yet, when you read Vettel’s full quote in context it doesn’t seem to be a whinge at all, rather a statement of fact:

It’s been a tough start, a rough season so far. F1 can be fantastic, as I have experience of, but it can be very cruel in retiring from problems. You rely on your car. It is part of the game.

Keep reading and the article is pretty level headed stuff from the four-time world champion. And then you stumble across these words which Vettel says he reminds himself of from time to time and you realise, hey, maybe he’s not such an arsehole after all:

I have one quote I very often read to myself, from a very good friend: ‘Forget the people around you now; remember the little boy who was racing in go-karts, what you were dreaming of and what he wanted to achieve one day and what was his goal. Race for him.’

[Source: BBC | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2014 British Grand Prix in pictures

2014 British Grand Prix

Everyone loves a winner, but the British love British winner more than anyone else. Thankfully, for them, Lewis Hamilton came up trumps at Silverstone and gave the likes of David Croft and countless others cause for unabated nationalism.

I’m not sure us Aussies would be as bad if Daniel ever wins in Melbourne.