|
Daniel Ricciardo says he cannot believe the "unreal" good fortune he benefitted from in a topsy-turvy Azerbaijan Grand Prix on his way to recording his fifth Formula One victory. Such a feat looked highly unlikely heading into the race as the Red Bull driver lined up from 10th on the grid following a crash in qualifying, and even more so when he was forced to pit on lap six to remove debris from his brakes in order to prevent overheating. Dropping back to 17th at one stage, Ricciardo worked his way up the order during three Safety Car periods and found himself running in the top five. Ricciardo pulled off a stunning double pass on both Williams drivers to move into third following the red flag re-start, before an unscheduled pit stop for Lewis Hamilton and penalty for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel propelled the Australian into a shock race lead, which he duly converted into his first win in 13 grands prix. "It was just a crazy race -- Never in doubt, never in doubt," Ricciardo joked after the race. "It was fun. Even when we got the red flag, I came on the radio and just was like 'man this is fun, this is a good race'. I was P5 and was having fun back in P5 -- now I won the race so you imagine where I am right now, pretty unreal. "I saw, when we had the red flag, when I got of the car I saw the replays. I was pretty sure Seb was 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've probably got the pace to make that gap but then they said ten-second stop-go, I was like alright. Then they said Lewis' headrest was loose, he's pitting, I was like is unreal, I am now leading this race and it's is in my hands."  Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admits he did not think Ricciardo's victory was possible and says his driver deserves "all the credit" for making the most of his opportunities. "To be honest I didn't think we could [win]," Horner told Sky Sports F1 after the race. "When he had the brake duct issue and he's come out in P19, it looked like his day was done and then we lost Max with an engine fault and it was total despair. "It just shows you never give up and Daniel started coming back and was picking up cars. He had a free pit stop and we went for the super-soft tyre and he made it work. He deserves all the credit for this victory, he rode his luck and made it happen."
|
