• Malaysian GP - Race

Being lapped by Vettel hurts - Ricciardo

Nate Saunders
March 29, 2015 « Allison explains Ferrari win and why a repeat will be tough | Button: We're catching midfield teams »
Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull frequently sprayed dust from its breaks during the grand prix © Getty Images
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Daniel Ricciardo said being lapped by race winner and former team-mate Sebastian Vettel was "the icing on the cake" after another frustrating race for Red Bull in Malaysia.

Ricciardo had the measure of Vettel during their season together at Red Bull last year but the German returned to the top step of the podium in Malaysia for his new team, Ferrari. By contrast Red Bull struggled from lights out despite qualifying fourth and fifth, with Ricciardo finishing tenth behind new team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

The Australian seemed to be having issues with his brakes throughout, leaving him unable to display his usually impressive race craft. He admitted the fortunes of Vettel made the frustrating afternoon even more difficult to swallow.

"That was the icing on the cake," a deflated Ricciardo said about Vettel's win. "Obviously congrats to Seb but getting lapped by him … not the best feeling in the world."

Ricciardo, who was uncharacteristically short with his answers to the media, admits he was left deflated by the numerous issues which hampered him throughout the race.

"Not exciting, just helpless to be honest. I feel like I come in fired up and ready to go [but] it was just hard to put up a fight today. We had a few other issues here and there which hindered us in a fight. It's frustrating, I feel like I want to battle and have some fun but every time we did we paid for a mistake or paid a consequence for trying. It was just driving around and not really getting much out of it … Long day."

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