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Red Bul's Daniel Ricciardo took his and the team's first win of the season in Baku today, crossing the line ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll. Ricciardo wins his first race since the memorable Malaysian Grand Prix of 2016.
Ricciardo was an unlikely winner after making an early pit-stop to get out of traffic. Gaining from the number of safety cars that were deployed, the Australian found himself in P3 before Hamilton and Vettel both had to pit, Hamilton to replace his headrest and Vettel to serve a penalty.
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"This is the race we expected last year," the Australian said. "With all the safety cars, and all the chaos - we got it this year! I made an unplanned pit stop at the beginning," he explained. "After a few laps we had some debris in the brakes so we had to stop and clean it. We dropped back to 17th.
"It was a crazy race," said Ricciardo afterwards. "We knew the podium was a chance after the restart but then we heard the problems with Lewis and Seb. Did I think then I'd win then? Absolutely not. I would have put all my money on it that this was very unlikely.
"When we had the red flag, when we got out the car, I saw the replays [of the Hamilton/Vettel crash] I was pretty sure Seb as going to get a penalty but I wasn't sure to what extent. I was thinking if it's only a ten-second penalty then they probably had the pace to get that back. But then they said it was a ten second stop-go, I was like, 'alright'.
"Then they said Lewis' headrest is loose and he's pitting. I thought this is unreal, I'm now leading the race and it's in my hands!"I was honestly speechless after the race. On the cool down lap I was just giggling like a little schoolboy. It was fun. Even when we got the red flag, I was on the radio saying 'This is fun, this is a good race,' I was having fun in P5 and now I've won the race so you can imagine where I'm at right now. It's pretty unreal."
Fergal Walsh
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
I. Hadjar
A. Antonelli
C. Leclerc
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Replies (3)
Login to replyF1racefan97
Posts: 113
Good on him, title fight is on if Red bull can gain an extra half a second on the field I reckon
f1dave
Posts: 782
Twenty four days ago Red Bull was threatening to quit F1, is that still on ?
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Blimming joke. Another retirement for ves really.... the reaction of max said it all. So ric won ... well done.