Daniel Ricciardo says F1 Russian GP penalty “lit a fire under my bum”

Renault Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo took inspiration from his five-second time penalty at the Russian Grand Prix, saying it “lit a fire under my bum”.

Ricciardo picked up the penalty for not taking the correct route between the bollards after running wide at Turn 2 when he overtook Renault teammate Esteban Ocon.

The Australian apologised for the penalty and vowed to his team that he would make up for it by simply driving faster. Ricciardo went on to seal fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Ocon.

"The outcome was a good one," said Ricciardo. "But there were certainly some speed bumps along the way, literally!

“I earned myself a five second penalty by going wide at Turn 2, and then I had to make up that time. But we did in the end. We were the fifth best today, and we got it. I made a little extra work for myself, but that was OK.

"The start was great again, off the line the car's been a rocket in the last few starts. So lots of positives. Some imperfections at times from me, but I cleaned myself up OK."

Ricciardo explained that he had no qualms about the penalty as he was aware he had made a mistake and instead wanted to focus his energy on putting it right.

"I took full responsibility for it," he said. "I just locked up and went wide. I was like I'm probably going to get a penalty here. So when Karel [Loos, race engineer] told me I think I'd already accepted it in my head.

"I was like the only way to eliminate the penalty is to go faster, and build a gap to Leclerc behind me.

"So it was actually quite good in hindsight. It lit a bit of a fire under my bum and I just got on with it. That was cool and I was proud to not let it get to me. I think we made a really good race of it after that."