Daniel Ricciardo 'puts fist through wall' in furious meltdown
Daniel Ricciardo was so angry he punched a hole in a wall after a power failure forced him to retire from the US Grand Prix.
While his teammate Max Verstappen stormed from 18th on the grid to finish second with a dazzling drive, Australian Ricciardo was left frustrated again in a season that has seen him suffer a loss of form.
“It’s a crying shame for Daniel, I feel so sorry for him,” team boss Christian Horner told reporters after the race won by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
“It was an identical issue to that which he had in Bahrain where it was a complete shut down.”
Ricciardo, who leaves Red Bull for Renault next season, was battling for a possible podium finish when he was forced into retirement.
“He’s just taken his frustration out on his room by putting his fist through the wall, which you can totally relate to,” added Horner.
“He doesn’t blame the team in any way. He knows we’re doing everything we can, it’s just one of those things.”
Horner was delighted with Verstappen’s performance.
“That was brilliant — what a drive from P18! This was vintage Max — fair and hard racing. Today he’s driven an unbelievable race.
“He should certainly be given driver of the day, if he hasn’t got it already.
“We run a whole bunch of simulations to try and monitor the tyres and everything was telling us the tyres were done with six laps to go.
“But Max was saying he could manage it. All our tyre models were telling us there’s no way he will get to the end and he just did it and made it work.”
Raikkonen breaks record title drought
Lewis Hamilton has been kept waiting for his fifth world championship after the Mercedes driver finished third behind winner Raikkonen.
The victory on Sunday was the Finn’s first since March 2013, breaking the longest title drought in F1 history (113 races).
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton’s only title rival, finished fourth – a result that means the championship remains open until Mexico next weekend.
Hamilton now has a 70-point lead with 75 remaining to be won.
with agencies
