Cruel twist for disqualified Daniel Riccardio

DANIEL Riccardio’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix was not the fault of the young Australian Red Bull driver.

DANIEL Ricciardo was disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix for a technical breach that Formula One’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), has admitted was not the fault of the Red Bull Racing driver.

Ricciardo was stripped of his second-place finish behind Mercedes-Benz’s Nico Rosberg for failing to comply with F1’s new limits on fuel consumption. The official verdict, obtained by The Australian, stated: “This parameter is outside of the control of the driver, Daniel Ricciardo.”

New F1 rules prohibit the use of more than 100kg of petrol an hour. Leaving Albert Park nearly five hours after the race had finished, Ricciardo said: “Whatever the outcome, I’m really proud of what I did today. There are more positives than negatives.”

Ricciardo had become the first Australian to reach the podium at Albert Park. He drove on instructions from his team. Red Bull director Christian Horner confirmed he would appeal the disqualification. “I am extremely disappointed, quite surprised, and we will of course appeal,” Horner said. “Hopefully through the appeal process it will be quite clear that the car has conformed at all times to the regulations. We would not be appealing unless we were extremely confident that we have a defendable case. It is no fault of Daniel. I don’t believe it is the fault of the team. I believe we have been compliant to the rules.”

It was a cruel finish to what had seemed the near-perfect day for Ricciardo.

On arrival at Albert Park, he slipped out of his courtesy car, signed the obligatory autographs for the revheads howling his name, flashed his security pass, strutted through the Albert Park paddock like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, darted into the Red Bull garage, slipped into his astronaut-style racing suit, listened to his hard-rock music on oversized headphones, squeezed into his work cubicle/cockpit, launched himself into the race and endeavoured to play his game of automotive chess at 300km/h.

He became the first Australian to stand on the podium at the home GP after Rosberg took the chequered flag, holding his nerve when the McLarens tried to hunt him down and shove him off the podium in the final nerve-shredding laps.

Bedlam in the grandstands followed. A full-throated, growling ovation. Ricciardo’s first words: “Aw, yeah!” Australia’s former F1 world champion Alan Jones told him on the podium: “You’ve done us proud.”

The disqualification capped a horror day for Red Bull. Ricciardo’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel was forced to pull out.

Were Ricciardo and defending world champion Vettel of Germany friends or foes?, it was asked earlier. “Competitors,” Ricciardo said. Professional relationship? “Professional is the right word for it.” They sat in vintage cars for a pre-race lap of the circuit. There was a meet and greet with spectators before the day turned to pot for them and others.

At the beginning of the race Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi hit Williams’s Felipe Massa from behind.

They careered out of control, failing to negotiate the opening turn, skidding into the gravel. Massa fumed: “Every time he tries to do a stunt like that, he will crash.”

Rosberg had started from third spot on the grid but took the lead by the first turn and was never headed in the season-opener at the Albert Park circuit. His Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Vettel sensationally retired early in the race.

Rosberg zipped around Hamilton and led throughout.

After two laps, Hamilton was told to retire. He refused, told on the radio: “Okay Lewis, stay out, stay out, keep it rolling.”

Vettel was clunking around, furious, on his way to losing for the first time since his July. “It’s not running smoothly,” he complained. “This is ridiculous, guys.” He punched the air with frustration.

But Ricciardo stayed on Rosberg’s tail.

Ricciardo was five seconds behind for the first dozen laps. The gap increased: The Merc was the superior vehicle.

Out in the paddock, out in millionaire’s row, Vettel was livid. What happened on the fifth lap? “Did I make five laps?” Apparently.

“We lost power,” he said. “Basically, we had no power from the start. Big problem with the engine. You lose even more power, you have to stop.”

Hamilton shrugged: “I was driving on five cylinders. Disappointing. But that’s racing.”

Rosberg’s 302.271 kilometres took one hour 32 minutes 58.710 seconds at an average speed of 195.059 km/h. Ricciardo finished 24.525 seconds behind and Denmark’s Kevin Magnussen third, 26.777 behind in a McLaren.

Ricciardo was ecstatic before officialdom intervened. “An unbelievable day,” he said before his heart was ripped out.

“It’s been crazy. The support has been overwhelming. No words. All the attention has been a bit embarrassing. Everyone seems to know who I am now, and it’s something I have to get used to. It’s embarrassing to see your face on billboards, but it’s all positive. The first Australian on the podium, it’s pretty nice. A bit surreal. Tomorrow it will sink in.”

A rock star’s reception on his way out. “If there’s any doubts about the Oz Grand Prix lasting, people have put an end to that here,” he said.

“I’m pleased to have been part of that. There was a lot of guessing with the conserving of fuel, but we survived. We got there.”

He thought he had got there. He thought wrong, as of last night.

For Rosberg, victory came almost three decades after his father Keke won Australia’s inaugural F1 event in Adelaide in 1985.