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Monaco 2018 flashback: Ricciardo finally gets his revenge
With the Monaco Grand Prix taking place today in a week, we thought we'd take a trip down memory lane to re-visit last year's race. Daniel Ricciardo won his second race of the season, but more importantly, finally got his revenge for the tragic loss in 2016.
Thursday - Red Bull and Ricciardo stamp authority
As always, Free Practice in Monaco started on Thursday rather than Friday. Straight away, it was clear Red Bull were the favourites with their superior chassis and downforce. Ricciardo topped both FP1 and FP2, with teammate Max Verstappen closely following suit.
The Dutchman was in the hunt to become the youngest pole sitter ever, a record currently held by Sebastian Vettel when he put his Toro Rosso on pole in 2008 at Monza, and Monaco seemed like Verstappen's best opportunity to make history.
Saturday - Nightmare for Max, Danny Ric dominant
During FP3, it all went south for Verstappen. Trailing Ricciardo by just a thousandth of a second, the Dutchman was on a hot lap, when he suddenly had to juke left to evade the slow Carlos Sainz. At the second swimming pool chicane, he clipped the inside of the corner and lost control of his RB14, slamming into the arm coat on the way to Rascasse.
It was FP3 over for Verstappen, but also qualifying later on the day, as the engineers at Red Bull couldn't fix the 20-year-old's car in time. Max was unbelievably frustrated with the situation, reportedly breaking down in the motorhome as this was the pinnacle of his poor season start. It later proved a turning point in his season, but in Monaco, it meant he was out of contention for pole position and for the win.
Ricciardo got that pole position by quite some margin, his first of the season, followed by Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton
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Sunday - revenge for Ricciardo almost goes wrong
Verstappen started on P20 and Ricciardo on P1, which was sort of a metaphor for the seasons both drivers were having at that point.
Ricciardo got off the line well and built up a lead, but on lap 28, drama ensued. "I'm losing power," said the Aussie on the team radio. His MGU-K had gone, basically meaning he had 150 bhp less than he should have on an already underpowered car. Vettel quickly came back and was right in his gearbox, but as often is the case in Monaco, he couldn't find a way past despite being much quicker.
In 2016, Ricciardo was absolutely robbed of a victory in the principality already, as any F1 fan will remember, as he was leading the race but had a major issue during his pitstop as his crew wasn't ready to receive him, giving up loads of time and allowing Hamilton the lead and the win.
Now, he wasn't going to let anybody take it away from him. "Is it going to get better?" he asked. "Negative," was the response. 40 laps he had to battle Vettel and keep the German at bay, and he did so successfully. He finally got his revenge, and that shoey will have never tasted better.
