Sunday, April 15, 2018

Daniel Ricciardo wins the 2018 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix



Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo took a sensational victory in the Chinese Grand Prix as a chaotic final 20 laps threw the F1 championship wide open.


A collision, a safety car and a Red Bull gamble. Those three ingredients delivered the most exciting Grand Prix in recent memory.



Ricciardo took advantage of a tactical masterstroke by his Red Bull team and drove beautifully to pass five cars after Red Bull chose to pit for fresh tyres in a safety-car period.


Team-mate Max Verstappen stopped at the same time - but threw away his chances with two errors caused by over-optimistic driving.


Lewis Hamilton finished a frustrated fifth, but was promoted back ahead of Verstappen, who was penalised for causing a collision with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.


Vettel looked likely to finish seventh, but was overtaken by McLaren's Fernando Alonso on the penultimate lap to finish even further down the order.


Bottas held off a late surge from Ferrari's Raikkonen to finish second, albeit nine seconds down on a jubilant Ricciardo.

The result means Vettel's lead over Hamilton in the championship has been cut to nine points.



Ricciardo came to Shanghai on the back of four retirements in his last six races. And his luck seemed unlikely to turn when he suffered an engine problem in FP3.

But after recovering to sixth in qualifying and then running there for most of the race, the Australian Red Bull driver was handed a lifeline when the Safety Car intervened following Pierre Gasly’s tangle with Toro Rosso team mate Brendon Hartley on lap 32.


That proved the prelude to an amazing surge up the order, as Red Bull pitted both Ricciardo and team mate Max Verstappen for fresh tyres.


Kimi Raikkonen was quickly dispatched for fifth, followed by Verstappen when the Dutchman messed up trying to overtake Lewis Hamilton. Then came moves on championship leader Sebastian Vettel before a brilliant lunge on Valtteri Bottas to take the lead.




“I don’t know what it is,” said Ricciardo, who was understandably voted Driver of the Day. “I don’t seem to win boring races. They are all pretty fun.

“It was hectic, I heard safety car [was being called] in T14. [The team] said we would double stop. It happened quickly.

“That gave us a bit of grip on the restart. We didn’t think it would last that long but the tyres held up well and we had wicked pace on the softs.

“Once I was aware we had the pace, I wasn’t going to let that slip. Every win I’ve had has been in a similar circumstance. It was crazy, a lot of fun. It was decisive, winning moves from the team. Thanks a lot. Said Daniel Ricciardo  after the race.




Daniel Ricciardo likes to do it the hard way. His sensational victory in Shanghai was the sixth of his career. In all of them, he has never started the race higher than fourth. And once again, his trademark 'shoey' overtakes were the highlight of an absolute belter of a 2018 Chinese Grand Prix.





Full race results for the Chinese Grand Prix, the third round of the 2018 F1 season at the Shanghai International Circuit, China.


1. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 56 laps, 1hr 35m 36.380s


2. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport +8.894s

3. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Scuderia Ferrari +9.637s

4. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport +16.985s

5. Max Verstappen NED Aston Martin Red Bull Racing +20.436s*

6. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault Sport Formula One Team +21.052s

7. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren F1 Team +30.639s

8. Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari +35.286s

9. Carlos Sainz Jr. ESP Renault Sport Formula One Team +35.763s

10. Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas F1 Team +39.594s

11. Esteban Ocon FRA Sahara Force India F1 Team +44.050s

12. Sergio Perez MEX Sahara Force India F1 Team +44.725s

13. Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren F1 Team +49.373s

14. Lance Stroll CAN Williams Martini Racing +55.490s

15. Sergey Sirotkin RUS Williams Martini Racing +58.241s

16. Marcus Ericsson SWE Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team +1m 02.604s

17. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas F1 Team +1m 05.296s

18. Pierre Gasly FRA Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda +1m 06.330s

19. Charles Leclerc MON Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team +1m 22.575s

*10-second time penalty for causing a collision

Did not finish

Brendon Hartley NZL Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda 51 laps.



The next race is the FORMULA 1 2018 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX Baku.

Fri 27 Apr – Sun 29 Apr 2018.



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