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Geoffrey Harris26 Jun 2017
NEWS

MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo wins thriller amid chaos

Seemingly no chance from 10th on the grid, the Aussie secures a miraculous triumph on the Caspian coast

Overnight, when opportunity knocked for a most unlikely victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, carsales.com.au’s global ambassador Daniel Ricciardo snatched it - an early present for his 28th birthday next Saturday.

“It was a crazy race, just crazy,” Ricciardo said in Baku following the most exciting GP since the start of the V6 hybrid engine era.

“I made an unplanned pit stop at the beginning. After a few laps we had some debris in the brakes, so had to stop and clean it, dropped back to I think 17th place.

“Did I think then that I would the race today? Absolutely not. I would have put all of my money on it that it was very unlikely. Crazy race.

“This is the race we expected [in Baku] last year, with all the safety cars and all the chaos and we got it this year (including a red flag stoppage at one point).
“I think I have been pretty fortunate.”

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Closing on the sixth anniversary of his Formula 1 debut, the West Australian native has now won five GPs in 117 starts and, this year, has been on the podium four races straight, with a hat-trick of thirds before this victory.

Azerbaijan was Ricciardo’s first visit to the top step of the podium since last year’s Malaysian GP.

Sebastian Vettel, previously Ricciardo’s Red Bull team-mate, was in hot water in Baku for swerving his Ferrari into Mercedes of rival Lewis Hamilton, who said after the race the German had: “disgraced himself”.

“Driving dangerously, which in any way could put another driver at risk … it could’ve been a lot worse,” Hamilton said.

“Imagine all the young kids that are watching F1 today and seeing that kind of behaviour from a four-time world champion.”

Vettel claimed Hamilton had ‘brake-tested’ him, causing nose-to-tail contact, while the Brit countered he had only slowed – which is his prerogative when behind the safety car.

After all the fuss, including a 10-second stop-go penalty in the pits, Vettel finished fourth to stretch his world championship lead to 14 points over Hamilton, who was fifth after a stop to fix a mysteriously loose headrest.

While the Renault engine powering Ricciardo’s Red Bull remain seriously underperforming compared to the Mercedes and Ferrari units, smart driving sees the Aussie now up to fourth in the championship, sandwiched between Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Bottas snatched second place in Baku after fighting back from lap one contact with Raikkonen which left him a lap down in last place.

Very happy after the GP in Baku was Canadian rookie Lance Stroll, who became the youngest driver to make the podium in his first F1 season, finishing third in a Williams-Mercedes.

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He stood on the podium at 18 years and 239 days to eclipse Max Verstappen who was aged 18 years and 228 days when he won last year’s Spanish GP (and actually in his second season of F1).

Stroll’s miraculous performance came after securing his first points a fortnight earlier at Montreal (his home GP).

"I kept my head cool, the team kept me cool over the radio and we took it to the end,” Stroll said.

"It was a bit disappointing at the end to lose P2, but all in all an amazing race.”

There was bigger disappointment for Verstappen, Ricciardo’s Red Bull team-mate who was forced to retire with engine failure in the 11th lap – the fourth time in the past six races he has failed to see the chequered flag.

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Vertsappen started the race five grid places ahead of Ricciardo (who swiped a wall in the final part of qualifying).

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix again saw the Force India-Mercedes cars battling against each other. Eventually Force India’s young French driver Esteban Ocon finished in sixth, but his Mexican team-mate Sergio Perez was sidelined.

And the McLaren-Honda team finally broke its 2017 points drought with Fernando Alonso claiming ninth place.

While Ricciardo was “super happy” with his victory, which he celebrated with his customary ‘shoey’ - and imposed one on Stroll - he did sympathise with Verstappen.

“Max has had two races in a row where I guess he’s been in strong positions and it hasn’t worked out for him through no fault of his own,” Ricciardo said.

“He’s going through a harder time on the fortune side of things right now, but he’s driving well. He’s missing possible podiums and chunks of points here and there, but he’ll bounce back.

“We’ll keep pushing each other, so that will continue to be important for both of us and the team as the season goes on.

“I think I have been pretty fortunate. I’ve only had a few victories, but I think pretty much all of them have come under pretty crazy circumstances or the races have been far from dull.

“Obviously all of them are special. Today was just crazy. We haven’t been necessarily the quickest car on track all weekend.

“I said after my crash in qualifying, ‘be there and capitalise on opportunities’, and I certainly capitalised on all the restarts where I was able to gain at least one position if not more.

“Then we had some fortune, with Lewis, he had to box (pit, for the loose headrest) and then Seb has his penalty.

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“There was so much going on, but it was fun. It was fun to be in the battle for the most part and towards the end, obviously once I got the lead (with about 20 laps to go) it was just trying to keep it.

“We weren’t setting the quickest times on track, but I knew if I kept that rhythm it was enough to win. It was cool. Nice feeling.”

The clash with Hamilton cost Vettel three ‘demerit’ points on his racing licence. He has now has nine points, and if the total gets to 12 in any 12-month period, he will be forced to sit-out one Grand Prix.

Hamilton, a triple world champion, felt Vettel should have been punished harder.

“He was obviously ‘sleeping’ and drove into the back of me, but that wasn’t the issue for me,” Hamilton said.

“[Then] driving alongside and driving deliberately into a driver and getting away scot-free, pretty much – he still came away with fourth –it’s a disgrace.
“He disgraced himself today, to be honest.

“It could’ve been a lot worse.”

Vettel claimed Hamilton should have been punished too.

“The leader dictates the pace, but we were exiting the corner, he was accelerating and then he braked so much that I couldn’t stop in time and ran into the back of him,” Vettel said.

“I think that was just not necessary … and I wasn’t happy with that.

“I drove alongside him and raised my hand to say ‘that’s not the way to do it’, because at that moment I damaged my front wing and I think he paid the price as well by having slight damage to his car as well.

“In the end I don’t agree with the penalty that I got, because if you penalise me then you should penalise us both, because that was not the way to do it.”

Vettel brushed off Hamilton’s comment about his action having not been a good example to youngsters watching.

“I think F1 is for grown-ups. As I said, the manoeuvre before was not necessary. I think that was not the right way to do it, exiting the corner, accelerating and then braking. I don’t think there was any point in doing that.”

Formula 1 drivers’ world championship standings after eight rounds1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) 153 points; 2. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 139; 3. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes) 111; 4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 92; 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 73; 6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull-Renault) 45; 7. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 44; 8. Esteban Ocon (France, Force India-Mercedes) 35; 9. Carlos Sainz Junior (Spain, Toro Rosso-Renault) 29; 10. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 20; 11. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Renault) 18; 12. Lance Stroll (Canada, Williams-Mercedes) 17; 13. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Haas-Ferrari) 11; 14. Romain Grosjean (France, Haas-Ferrari) 10; 15. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany, Sauber-Ferrari) 5; 16. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Toro Rosso-Renault) 4; 17. Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Honda) 2.

F1 constructor standings1. Mercedes 250 points; 2. Ferrari 226; 3. Red Bull-Renault 137; 4. Force India-Mercedes 79; 5. Williams-Mercedes 37; 6. Toro Rosso-Renault 33; 7. Haas-Ferrari 21; 8. Renault 18; 9. Sauber-Ferrari 5; 10. McLaren-Honda 2.

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Written byGeoffrey Harris
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