- Italian GP - Race
Ricciardo: Fifth the maximum
Daniel Ricciardo says Red Bull optimised its strategy as he recovered from a poor start to claim fifth with a thrilling charge through the field at the Italian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo qualified down in ninth on Saturday and spent the early stages of the race recovering from a slow getaway. But Ricciardo soon regained his starting position and Red Bull decided to pit him later than those in front of him, then set about catching those in front - dispatching Jenson Button superbly through Rettifilo before passing Sergio Perez and Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in identical fashion on the run down to the Roggia chicane.
Despite starting so far down Ricciardo says fifth was always the best result possible at Monza.
"The strategy helped today, it kept the tyres fresh enough to go those extra few laps at the end," Ricciardo said. "I saw the cars in front of me pit and the pace was still good enough, so seeing that we didn't have great pace when we were out of position then we thought we would try something different and that's why we went long, which helped towards the end of the race. I was more comfortable with the prime tyre and was able to do some good moves, which kept me smiling."
Ricciardo does not think his poor start cost him any places despite spending the early stages of the race in recovery mode.
"I think fifth, even with a good start, was the best we could do. The start wasn't ideal, it's one of the longest runs up to Turn 1 here from the start line and it's not a place where you want to have a bad one, but I dropped the clutch and didn't get the traction, so we will have to look at that, but we kept a cool head and picked our way back through the field."
Ricciardo also continued to have fun on social media, tweeting before the race:
Damn this guys hungry today. Hasn't eaten in weeks... pic.twitter.com/IdnzyyjfOa
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) September 7, 2014Which he followed up with a subsequent tweet after the race:
Honey badger had a lot of fun today. He enjoyed his meal
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) September 7, 2014© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
