Ricciardo's pole lap came from nowhere - Horner

  • Published on 28 Oct 2018 10:24
  • comments 0
  • By: Fergal Walsh

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has said that he believes Daniel Ricciardo's “mega” lap to put the Australian on pole position “came from nowhere”.

The lap came after many people had written off Ricciardo for the pole, as his teammate Max Verstappen had been quickest in all three of the free practice sessions, as well as setting the benchmark in the early parts of Q3.

Horner said: “Where did that lap come from? It was mighty. He’s been a couple of tenths off all weekend and then suddenly on that last set of tyres, boom! It was just absolutely perfect. Second and third sector he just nailed it. It sort of came from nowhere really! You could hear how happy he was on the slow down lap so really pleased for him. After his bad luck, I’m so happy for him.”

This result is Red Bull's first front-row lockout since Austin 2013, where Sebastian Vettel put his car on pole with Mark Webber behind him. A fantastic result for the team, but rather disappointing for Max Verstappen, who blamed his “crap” qualifying on a brake issue.

Horner went on to say: “Realistically this was probably the best and only chance for Max to take that record so he is going to be feeling that.” But to have two Red Bull cars on the front-row, our first time since Austin since 2013, for the team it’s just phenomenal.” You know, they have the same car, same opportunity. Daniel did the better job in Q3 and he deserves the pole. All credit to him.”

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Driver profile

  • Team Red Bull Racing
  • Points 3,189
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  • Country NL
  • Date of b. Sep 30 1997 (27)
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