Horner: Ricciardo punched hole in wall after US GP retirement
Red Bull Formula 1 team principal Christian Horner has revealed Daniel Ricciardo “put his fist through the wall” of his room after retiring from the United States Grand Prix.
Ricciardo was forced into retirement while running in fourth place during the early stages of Sunday’s race, when his car suddenly shutdown coming out of Turn 11.
Horner said the failure was reminiscent of his issue earlier in the season in Bahrian and explained how his driver took out his frustration following his seventh non-finish of the season.
Red Bull Formula 1 team principal Christian Horner has revealed Daniel Ricciardo “put his fist through the wall” of his room after retiring from the United States Grand Prix.
Ricciardo was forced into retirement while running in fourth place during the early stages of Sunday’s race, when his car suddenly shutdown coming out of Turn 11.
Horner said the failure was reminiscent of his issue earlier in the season in Bahrian and explained how his driver took out his frustration following his seventh non-finish of the season.
“It’s just a crying shame for Daniel and I feel so sorry for him,” Horner told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
“It looks like an identical power unit issue to what he had in Bahrian where it’s just gone into shutdown - you could see it mid-corner.
“He was driving a strong grand prix and would have been right there too. It’s so frustrating for him.
“He’s just taken his frustration out in his room by putting his fist through the wall, which you can totally relate to.”
Horner stressed Ricciardo had not blamed the team for his continued reliability woes and said the Australian is aware the problems were related to Renault, who he will switch to for 2019.
“I’m sure he will be having a word with his future employers about it because it’s just so frustrating to keep losing him from races,” he explained.
“He doesn’t blame the team in anyway, he knows we are doing all we can. It's just one of those things.
“Hopefully we have enough [engine] components in our pool not to take a penalty [in Mexico next weekend].”
Horner said he is optimistic of Red Bull’s chances of challenging Mercedes and Ferrari at next weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, after Max Verstappen dominated proceedings at last year’s event.
“I think both the guys can be strong in Mexico. We saw we won it well last year, it was a really dominant win for us,” Horner added.
“At that altitude the engines can’t breathe, it brings it all closer together and that gives us a chance.
“We’re lacking in horsepower and that will give us a fairer chance on Saturday, and you can see we have got a strong race car.”
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