The inaugural Miami Grand Prix was another race to forget for Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren after the Aussie again failed to score any championship points.
Despite a promising start in which he made up two places from 14th on the opening lap, an ensuing strategic error stalled any chances of Riccardo breaking out of the midfield.
Adding insult to injury, moments after the race finished – with Ricciardo receiving the chequered flag in 11th place – the stewards handed him a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
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The stewards determined that Ricciardo held his position in front of Kevin Magnussen by leaving the track at turn 12 and returning alongside the Haas, before using its speed to pull ahead.
As a consequence, Ricciardo dropped to P13 in the post-race classifications behind Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda.
In a tyre foray gone wrong, Ricciardo was the last driver to complete his first pit stop, coming in for a new set of hard tyres on lap 31 of the 57-lap race.
Ricciardo pitted from eighth but returned to the track in 17th behind a long DRS train, puzzling Sky Sports F1 commentary team.
“All McLaren did was drop him back,” Ted Kravitz said.
On the plus side, Ricciardo finished ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who crashed out after making contact with Pierre Gasly.
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Speaking after the race, Ricciardo summarised the mediocre outing.
“There were some battles and also moments of fun, but it felt like we were defending more than attacking. We were trying our best to hold on,” he said.
“I think in the medium stint we were able to go long at the beginning, but I’m not sure if we were that quick. It felt like we were able to at least keep the tyre going. But then with the hard I just struggled, really struggled to get that going.
“Towards the end of the race when everything gripped-up, we just couldn’t run with the quicker cars. So, battling hard, and thought I got close to the points there, but it just wasn’t quite enough today.
“We’ll keep at it. I think this circuit certainly played to a few of our weaknesses. Lots of long corners, lots of long straights, so we’ve got to work on that, and then hopefully Barcelona will suit us a bit more, so I’m looking forward to that.”
McLaren leave Miami fourth in the constructors championship, with Ricciardo placed 11th in the drivers standings – four points behind Magnussen.
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