Brazil Grand Prix: Daniel Ricciardo apologises for R-rated rant, Max Verstappen claims sprint race
The weather has been volatile ahead of the Brazil Grand Prix, but nothing as tempestuous as Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo – who delivered a stunning rant after falling short in the sprint race.
Motorsport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Motorsport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Max Verstappen continued his winning habit with another well-measured victory for Red Bull on Saturday when he triumphed in the sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
But it was Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo who forced his way into the headlines with a foul-mouthed rant over team radio as he battled with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Sainz finished in eight place in the sprint race, taking home the final point on offer, having got the better of Ricciardo – much to the frustration of the AlphaTauri driver, who was routinely beaten for pace on Turn 4 by the Ferrari.
“F***. F***. F***,” Ricciardo said on team radio.
“It’s just that f***ing DRS. Turn 2 you’re passing one and then you get f***ed. It’s impossible. Anyway, I’ll shut up. Sorry guys.”
After cooling down, Ricciardo – speaking to Sky Sports – described the day as ‘frustrating’.
“Fun but also frustrating... everyone was struggling I think or most people just in terms of the tyres here, the asphalt. It’s bad,” Ricciardo said to Sky Sports F1 post-race.
“Everyone is fighting the car but we seemed to fight a little bit less than, as you mentioned, like Carlos in front of us.
“So I completed a move on him, at least twice — maybe more than twice, I can’t remember. But the DRS line, the second detection is in Turn 2, so every time I passed him it basically waved him back past before Turn 4 so that was extremely frustrating.”
Three-time world champion Verstappen finished comfortably clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen snatched the lead at the start and came home 4.287 seconds clear of pole-sitter Norris with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez taking third ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Yuki Tsunoda was sixth for Alpha Tauri, scoring their first points for the Italian team, ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes and Carlos Ferrari in the second Ferrari, taking the final point for eighth.
It was Verstappen’s fourth sprint win of the season.
“Much better than last year,” he reported to his team at the finish. “It was important to get ahead at the start, but the launch wasn’t amazing.
“It’s a good start and we learned a lot for tomorrow.”
Norris said: “I think I had the power, but I was too conservative. My initial start was good but not the second part of it and then I tried to go after Max, but I just didn’t have enough...” After a poor start, Perez fell to fifth but fought back to finish third. “I had a terrible start and had to fight hard on my tyres,” he said. “And I paid the price in the end. Without the start, I think I could have been a lot further up.” Hamilton’s race ended in disappointment as his tyres fell off in the closing laps and he lost positions and pace. “We got it wrong today ad we have to improve,” said Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff.
On a hot day at Interlagos, Norris made a good start from his first sprint race pole position, but Verstappen powered past him on the inside in the second start phase to lead into the downhill turn to the Senna ‘S’.
Behind him, Russell surged forward from fourth on the grid to pass Perez and then take second from Norris on the opening lap with Hamilton following to take fourth as Perez fell to fifth.
The Mexican began his recovery with a slipstream and Drag Reduction System-aided pass of Hamilton at Turn One on lap four, the Red Bull showing superior straight line power and speed as Verstappen pulled 1.5 seconds clear.
Norris also recovered to regain second from Russell into Turn One and Perez took third at the start of lap eight at the same place before the Briton re-passed him at the end of the back straight.
The champion was 1.8sec ahead of Norris with Perez seven seconds adrift in third and the two Mercedes, of Russell and Hamilton, in pursuit.
RICCIARDO REVEALS FRUSTRATION AFTER COSTLY ERROR
A crucial error in wild conditions means Daniel Ricciardo will start from near the back of the grid in Brazil on Monday – reducing his hopes of a podium finish before the end of the season.
It was a wild qualifying session, with the start delayed by 15 minutes so debris could be cleared from the track and Q3 red flagged.
Ricciardo went into the weekend on a high after qualifying fourth fastest in Mexico and finishing seventh – but an error early on in the lap had him eliminated in the first round of qualifying.
Fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri had a little bit more success and was on track for a spot on the front of the grid before he spun out in Q3.
Ricciardo will start from 17th, Piastri in 10th.
The AlphaTauri driver had a horror lap missing the first turn and leaving him chasing his tail for the rest of the lap.
“It’s frustrating because we were definitely faster than what we showed, and there was the potential for Q2, and maybe even Q3, but we didn’t get it right on the last lap,” Ricciardo said.
“I didn’t get the tyres in the right spot for the start of the lap, so I came too hot into Turn 1, and we lost a chunk of time in the first Sector.
“From then on, the lap started to spiral a little.
“On the other hand, I’m happy with the improvements I found in the car compared to the morning. I’ll have a look tonight at how we can extract the performance for the remainder of the weekend.”
It was the first time Ricciardo had failed to reach Q3 in Brazil since his first Brazil Grand Prix appearance in 2011.
But Ricciardo wasn’t the only driver who struggled in the wet conditions, described by pole taker Max Verstappen as “insane”.
Piastri, who had put on a solid performance in the early qualifying runs, spun off the track in Q3.
“Just lost a lot of grip. I don’t know if it was already raining or what, but I was struggling a lot already on the lap, I think everyone was based on how slow the laps were,” he said.
It was no real surprise when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed pole ahead of Charles Leclerc.
The newly-crowned three-time world champion clocked a best lap in one minute and 10.727 seconds to outpace Leclerc by 0.294 seconds with Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso taking third and fourth places to lock out the second row of the grid for Aston Martin.
Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes ahead of teammate George Russell, leaving a disappointed Lando Norris seventh for McLaren, after promising much more.
It was Verstappen’s 11th pole position of the season and lifted him to 31 for his career, one clear of Nico Rosberg and eighth in the all-time list of all-time.
Lando Norris and his McLaren team were left “gutted” and rueing their late entry into the fray in Friday’s storm-hit qualifying as they missed out on a possible front-row start at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The 23-year-old Briton had looked like the fastest man on track before Q3 began, but ended up seventh on the grid and frustrated at missing out on a chance to claim his second pole position.
“It was great, honestly,” he said. “The car was amazing.
“Easily probably quick enough to be quickest today and on pole. So I’m pretty gutted for that to end the way we did. I don’t know how to feel about it.
“But obviously delivering the lap and putting it together in Q3 and everything is a different job, but we were easily quick enough. So, another disappointing Saturday, but not a lot we could have done.”
He pointed out that being late out into the session was costly for all the teams who were caught by the weather.
Originally published as Brazil Grand Prix: Daniel Ricciardo apologises for R-rated rant, Max Verstappen claims sprint race
Gardner ready for home race after fast World Superbike testing
Remy Gardner’s strong showing in World Superbike testing in Portugal has the Australian raring to go in his home race at Phillip Island.
Aussie F1 star ‘on borrowed time already’
Australia’s Jack Doohan is under “massive pressure” to keep his spot in Formula 1 amid mounting speculation he’s on “borrowed time”.