Suspension failure halts Ricciardo at Brazil
Red Bull Racing had a difficult race in Brazil. While Sebastian Vettel fought his way up to finish 5th after a troubled first lap, Daniel Ricciardo encountered a front suspension failure that forced an early retirement.
Sebastian Vettel, 5th: “I had a good launch at the start and then into Turn 4… maybe I don’t have the best memories of Turn 4 here from two years ago, I didn’t know how aggressive Kevin (Magnussen) was going to be going into it and I left a bit too much space. I went a bit wide and lost two positions as I couldn’t get on the power out of the corner. Then I had to fight hard to get the positions back during the race which we did, especially with strategy. I hoped to get maybe one more position to finish fourth, but in the end it was a good result for us here.”
Daniel Ricciardo, DNF: “When I went into Turn One, the car went to the right and I knew there was a problem. I came into the pits and the team told me it was suspension failure and we retired. It had been a bit of a boring race, we were close to everyone but not close enough to have many fights; I would have liked to have had a bit more fun, but it didn’t really happen. It’s a shame, but I had a pretty good run until now, so I can’t be too greedy. It would be good to finish on the podium at the final race of the season.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A difficult afternoon. Sebastian unfortunately lost some time on the first lap, but thereafter he recovered very well through good strategy and pit work to get back up to fifth, which I think was the maximum at this circuit. With Daniel, unfortunately we had a front suspension issue, he thought it might be a front brake, but in the end it turned out to be the front suspension that had failed so we need to investigate what happened. Despite all that, we managed to secure second in the Constructors’ Championship which, considering where we started the season, is a huge credit to the entire team for the fight back that we put up this year. We now look forward to the last race in Abu Dhabi.”
Thierry Salvi, Renault: “First and foremost we are delighted to have helped secure second place in the Constructors’ Championship after a very difficult year for the team, which has done a fantastic job adapting to the new Power Unit regulations. Everyone has played their part. Seb did a great job today and again demonstrated his fighting qualities after the opening lap. Fifth was probably the best we could have hoped for in the end, but his PU ran without any problems at a particularly demanding circuit. There’s just one race remaining now, and we’ll be working very hard to end the season strongly before all of our energy switches to developing the RS35 unit ahead of 2015.”
