Ricciardo: “Surreal” Emilia Romagna GP F1 podium was unexpected

Daniel Ricciardo admits finishing on the F1 podium at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was unexpected after running in fifth for much of the race.

The Australian maintained his qualifying position for much of the race until Max Verstappen retired due to a rear tyre failure. 

Racing Point then stopped Sergio Perez for fresh rubber under the Safety Car, promoting Ricciardo to third, which he maintained despite late pressure from AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat.

“They’re all pretty good, for sure,” Ricciardo said. “I’m also not going to take this for granted. It’s the second in three races but I’m excited as I was in Nurburgring.

“It was a bit more unexpected, this one. We were running P5 with roughly 15 laps to go I think and then there was the issue with Max [Verstappen] that brought out the Safety Car so that put me in fourth on track. Then [Sergio] Perez pitted, which I was obviously smiling about because I was like: ‘That’s given me third on track’, and I knew hanging on with the hard [tyres] on the restart was going to be tricky but I was more than happy to fight for it at the end.

“Track position is obviously very important around here, so I think both myself and the team were very willing to keep me out on track and we held on. The threat at the end was [Daniil] Kvyat and that was very surprising. I wasn’t sure where he came from, but I was told he was on a soft and was coming on strong, but [I] held on and just very, very happy.

“It’s pretty surreal actually. Obviously the first one and to get two now in such close proximity is awesome.”

Ricciardo’s second podium in three races means Renault sits third in the constructors’ championship, a point clear of McLaren and Racing Point.

“It’s so close,” Ricciardo added. “That’s awesome. Obviously, I saw Esteban [Ocon] off fairly early in the race I believe with a mechanical [issue], so that’s a shame. I don’t know where he was on track but I know he would have had the pace to, I’m sure, collect points today.

“Obviously it’s great that we got big points with one car but I think if we’re going to keep our noses in front then for sure we need both cars in the points. So it’s a shame he had some reliability issues today. But we’ve still got a few races to go and I think we’ll fight to the end for sure so I’m excited for that.”