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Formula 1 Singapore GP
Red Bull feared Ricciardo would suffer gearbox failure
Red Bull principal Christian Horner has revealed the team was seriously concerned that Daniel Ricciardo's gearbox could have expired midway through the Singapore Grand Prix.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Edited: Sep 17, 2017, 5:10 PM
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Ricciardo avoided the first corner carnage that claimed teammate Max Verstappen and both Ferrari drivers to slot into second behind Lewis Hamilton.
While the Red Bull RB13 had looked considerably the quicker car compared to the Mercedes W08 for most of the Singapore weekend, Ricciardo couldn't mount a victory challenge.
Horner revealed after the race that the Australian driver was held back by having to manage a gearbox issue the team had discovered early on.
“Even before the first safety car, we could see were losing an awful lot of oil pressure in the gearbox," Horner told Sky Sports F1. "So we were thinking, ‘crikey, this is only going to go to half-distance'.
“So Daniel had instructions to start managing that, and he had to sacrifice laptime from doing that. He did that incredibly well, and managed to nurse the car home for almost another hour and a half.”
Asked whether Ricciardo could have won the race if not for the gearbox problem, Horner said: “We certainly could have been closer and put a bit more pressure on, but I think it’s very different conditions today - with the rain, the rubber being gone, it’s cooler than Friday, they were all factors.
“Mercedes, particularly Lewis – we had Valtteri [Bottas] covered, but Lewis had a really strong day.”
For his part, Ricciardo insisted having to manage the gearbox did not play a major role in the outcome.
“Ultimately it didn’t change shape of race," he said. "That wasn’t reason we were second and not first.”
Ricciardo rues “most frustrating” result
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13
Photo by: Sutton Images
Having targeted a “dominant weekend” after sweeping both Friday practice sessions, Ricciardo remained optimistic about his chances of a race win despite missing out on pole.
Instead, he had to settle for a third consecutive runner-up finish in Singapore, a result he admitted was hard to take given the RB13's earlier pace.
“That was the most frustrating thing, frustrating not to get that first win here,” Ricciardo said.
“But more, we didn't have the pace we showed on Friday, we struggled to look after the tyres – when able to punch out a good laptime, I couldn’t maintain it, whereas Lewis could answer and answer again.”
Ricciardo felt his car was not set up perfectly for the wet-dry race, saying: “If we were to do race again and set up the car differently, something we did on car would have helped us if we went the other way to what the conditions were.”
While his driver was frustrated by the outcome, the threat of a mechanical failure, paired with an early retirement for Verstappen, meant team boss Horner was satisfied with Ricciardo's second place.
Asked if this was a win that got away from Red Bull, Horner answered: “You could say that, but on lap 15 we were staring down the barrel of both cars being eliminated.
“We came away with a second place here, so we’ll take that.”
Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble
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