THE POOL MONTE
Ricciardo hangs on.. Lewis calls it ‘dull’
DANIEL RICCIARDO claimed his Monaco win was “redemption”, as he nursed his stricken Red Bull to victory.
A pit-stop error denied the Aussie in this race two years ago but, on the roads of Monte Carlo yesterday, he was streets ahead.
Ricciardo was down on power for the majority of the sport’s most famous race by the Mediterranean, but he bravely held off the challenge from Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton to take the chequered flag.
The race was branded dull by Hamilton, who said: “Big congratulations to Daniel, I’m really happy for him. He was so close to winning his first Monaco Grand Prix two years ago, so it’s good for him to have it now.
“I’m happy with the weekend. We were the third quickest team and almost got second. I’m grateful to only have lost three points to Sebastian – I’ll take that and move forwards.
“It wasn’t a really difficult race, we just had to make the tyres go a long way. I didn’t think they were going to go as far as they did. It’s a shame that the race is not as exciting as the whole spectacle of Monaco.
“Through practice, there’s no place like it, and the track is just epic in qualifying.
“We hope Canada will suit our car a little bit better, but it will be another close fight, especially with the Ferrari.
Ricciardo said: “This is two years in the making, so I finally feel like the redemption has arrived. We had problems. We had a lot to deal with during the race. I felt a loss of power and thought the race was done. I got home using six gears.
“There were a few doubts that came mid-race, but we won Monaco. It feels good.”
Vettel finished second to cut Hamilton’s championship lead to 14 points.
Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, with Valtteri Bottas fifth for Mercedes. Ricciardo had executed a perfect start and looked destined to march to glory.
However, trouble struck for the 28-year-old with 50 of this 78-lap marathon race remaining when he reported a loss of engine power.
But for all of the tracks to nurse a power issue, Monte Carlo would be the venue of choice given its lack of straights, and that it is nigh on impossible to overtake.
Ricciardo used all of his know-how to keep Vettel at bay. The gap as the German crossed the line was more than seven seconds.
It was an unusually quiet race for Hamilton, who added: “It would have been nice to be second. It was an interesting – or the least interesting – race.”