A victory more beautiful than that of Canada for Christian Horner
While Red Bull is the only team to have won a race this season outside of the unstoppable Mercedes, this second victory has a completely different flavor than the one achieved in Canada, which was mainly due to Mercedes' reliability issues that forced Nico Rosberg to slow down and Lewis Hamilton to retire.
« It’s even more satisfying than Canada’s victory because we beat them without any issues on their part, » says Christian Horner. Red Bull’s 3-stop strategy for its young Australian driver was thus decisive: « We had the right strategy, and it was also a superb performance from Daniel [Ricciardo]. » But beyond just a perfect strategy and proper pit stops, the Red Bull driver also stood out with his attacks: « The overtakes were excellent and we beat both Mercedes, who had no problems. » Daniel Ricciardo himself says: « There was only one way to win, and that was to overtake them. I made an attempt on Lewis on the previous lap, and this time I got him. »
This overtaking maneuver remains memorable on a track known for not favoring them, much like Monaco. And far from lingering in the exhaust of a Fernando Alonso who had resisted Lewis Hamilton for many laps, the Red Bull driver quickly reacted: « Once I was close to Fernando, I knew I had to go for it – I was sandwiched with Lewis in the DRS zone, so I couldn’t waste any time. »
While Daniel Ricciardo was far from the lead during the opening laps, the first safety car, triggered by Marcus Ericsson’s crash, propelled the Australian to the front. But Christian Horner believes that it was more about his driver’s performance that was decisive for this victory: « This guy has supreme confidence right now. He’s driving his car perfectly, and things are going well for him. »
If the first safety car outing did help the Australian, he was not spared from problems during this race either. “For a few laps, we had some issues and had less power, so I had to do a lot of things at the wheel,” he notes. The race could have ended there. Indeed, a problem with the Renault power unit appeared, according to Christian Horner: “He had a problem on one of the engine cylinders. The guys at Renault were able to find a way to fix it by disabling a sensor, and then his overtakes in the last five laps… they are the icing on the cake of a fantastic race.”
