F1: Top 5 race wins of Daniel Ricciardo with Red Bull Racing

Throughout the first half of the 2018 season, speculation and rumours had been floating about which seat Daniel Ricciardo would warm during the upcoming season. Scratch that, people had been wondering since last year what the Australian's move would be, once he's a free agent for the first time in his Formula One career.

Much like his overtakes from miles back and his quirky quotes that nobody can truly anticipate or guess, his decision to move to Renault shocked the entire F1 family. The 29-year-old has signed with the French team, but he still has half a year to go with Red Bull Racing, the team with which he secured his seven Grand Prix wins.

Red Bull Racing team principal, Christian Horner, stated that the energy drinks squad tried their best to sign on the Australian, even if just for another year. Given the Honey Badger's credentials, the only aspect the Milton Keynes based outfit would be happy to say goodbye to would be the ‘shoey’ celebrations, unless if they have gradually developed a taste for drinking out of a race sweat soaked shoe.

Daniel is fully capable of scoring a win at any one of the nine circuits yet to be visited this year. However, here is a list of his best wins with Red Bull Racing till date:-

#5 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Quote of the race: yeaahhhhuhuhuhu yeeeeaaahhhhh wooooo.

The Hungaroring circuit was wet before the start of the Grand Prix, due to which the drivers opted for intermediates to begin the race on. Daniel Ricciardo had slotted fourth on the grid but lost places to Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button during the first lap.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Australian. When the safety car was deployed in lap 10 because of a Marcus Ericsson crash, Daniel made the pit lane entry while the other front-runners missed it. This propelled him to the lead of the race, but Jenson Button quickly overtook him at the restart.

The problem for the McLaren driver was that his team had decided to switch to a new set of intermediates during the safety car period, despite the track quickly drying up.

After another two rounds of tyre changes for the Red Bull driver, he was running in third place behind Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo was on fresher rubber than the two up ahead and was able to bring about exhilarating overtaking moves to grab the winning trophy.

#4 2014 Canadian Grand Prix

Quote of the race: Thanks, guys. This is cool.

Starting the race in 6th place, Daniel Ricciardo might not have envisioned a victory in Canada in 2014. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were leading during the first half of the race, pulling away from the rest of the field before both Mercedes suffered back-to-back MGU-K failures.

As Hamilton retired, Rosberg stayed ahead of a quickly developing train of cars. Daniel gained the second place by passing Sergio Pérez, who was riddled with brake issues. The Red Bull driver then caught up to Nico, snatching the lead from the German on the penultimate lap.

A safety car was issued after Felipe Massa’s Williams collided with Pérez’s Force India during a failed overtaking attempt, helping Ricciardo win the first Grand Prix of his career.

#3 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Quote of the race: Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit that was a race.

All was not going well for Daniel Ricciardo going into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Having crashed out in the last part of qualifying, the Red Bull driver was gearing up to join tenth on the grid.

Not everyone got through lap 1 unscathed and Daniel picked up some debris which he had to come into the pits for. His position dropped down to 17th and he quickly made up a few places before two almost back to back safety cars were deployed.

The first was required to remove Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso from the track. Meanwhile, the second came out so debris from a collision between the Force Indias could be cleaned off the circuit.

All hell went loose at the restart when the leading championship rival, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel came to blows. The Briton didn’t immediately pull away when the safety car was withdrawn and believing that he had been ‘brake tested’, Vettel came alongside Lewis and rammed his Ferrari into Hamilton’s Mercedes.

The race was red flagged and while debris was cleared by marshals, teams began repair work on their cars. The focus was on the leaders, but Ricciardo continued his climb and was fifth at the time of the final restart.

At lap 24, the Australian pulled off a spectacular overtake over both the Williams drivers, with Nico Hülkenberg also in the mix. Misfortune struck Lewis who had to pit to put his loose headrest into place. As Vettel served his ten second penalty, Daniel was free to claim the lead of the race and score Red Bull Racing’s first win of the 2017 season.

#2 2018 Monaco Grand Prix

Quote of the race: Redemption.

Daniel Ricciardo had been untouchable all weekend, topping the timesheets during all three practice sessions before claiming pole on Saturday. Monaco is known to suit the pole sitters as overtaking is a tough task on the narrow street circuit.

Daniel got away well at the start and continued leading the rest of the pack before calamity struck when the Red Bull driver complained about the loss of power on lap 28.

The Australian must have had a feeling of déjà vu and thought that the race win was slipping from his grasp yet again. Back in 2016, Ricciardo was well on his way to victory before a botched pit stop rid him of the top step on the podium.

With an MGU-K failure that left him with a loss of 160 bhp and only six out of eight gears to use, Daniel was quickly under pressure from the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Fortunately for the 29-year-old, he had the issue on the best possible circuit on the calendar.

Ricciardo was able to bring his Red Bull to the chequered flag ahead of everybody else and take his first victory at the Circuit de Monaco.

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#1 2018 Chinese Grand Prix

Quote of the race: Sometimes you’ve just got to lick the stamp and send it.

The third Grand Prix of 2018 saw Ferrari locking out the front row. While Sebastian Vettel maintained his lead after the first lap, Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton lost positions and dropped back to fourth and fifth respectively.

Daniel Ricciardo stayed sixth as a collision between the two Toro Rosso cars brought out the safety car. Red Bull Racing double stacked their cars in the pits, as they both switched to a new set of tyres.

When the safety car went back in, the fresher tyres aided the Milton Keynes based squad to make inroads on the front-runners. Ricciardo braked late during lap 14 to make the move stick on Kimi and started catching up his teammate. Max Verstappen ran wide while battling with Lewis and Daniel was able to pick up another place.

Staying on the inside of the Mercedes of Hamilton, the Honey Badger climbed up to third and then overtook Vettel with 14 laps to go. Valtteri Bottas was next to the last obstacle between the Australian and a race victory.

Daniel kept a cool head throughout the Grand Prix, pulling off clinical overtaking moves and then leaving the others behind to cross the finish line almost 9 seconds ahead of second placed, Bottas.

Edited by Kishan Prasad