The smile was back on Daniel Ricciardo’s face as he returned to the podium in Hungary for the first time since the Monaco GP.
The Australian briefly held second at the start and very nearly got into the lead, but one corner later he fell back to third, and stayed there for the duration, having successfully held off a strong challenge from Sebastian Vettel.
“I’m pleased with the podium,” he said. “Obviously we got close at the start and tried around the outside of Turn One and I couldn’t really see I think at the time Lewis, when Lewis and Nico were in my blind spot, so at the apex of Turn One I thought I was in the lead and then saw one of the Mercedes sneak up on the exit. And then, yeah, into Turn Two, I was just on the inside and Nico had a clear run and got better drive. I think the first part of the race we looked quite competitive.
“But then it looked like Mercedes had a bit more in their back pocket and were able to improve the pace as the race went on. In the end the fight was then with Sebastian. It got pretty close at the end; did quite a long stint on those tires. It wasn’t easy. The last lap, I’m sure he had DRS and, at least in my mirrors, it looked like he got quite close in Turn One. So, yeah, bit of a fight. So it was a bit of a relief actually coming across and keeping third.”
Regarding his recent run of frustration, he said: “I think the qualifying generally has still been really strong. The Saturdays, I’ve put them together well but the Sundays, whether it was circumstances, bad luck or just not being quick enough, haven’t really felt like I’d get the most out of a Sunday. With Barcelona and Monaco which was so close, and then it just felt like... I wouldn’t say, it looked like momentum, sort of swings a bit, but just the way racing goes.
“I feel from Friday onwards until the last lap today, I got the most out of it, so I’m more pleased with that this weekend, to leave Sunday feeling happy again and knowing that I got everything I could out of the car and package and it’s nice to be rewarded with champagne and a very nice trophy here.”
