Ricciardo looks back on 'relief' of Monaco win

Daniel Ricciardo has looked back on his favourite moment of the 2018 Formula 1 campaign, and it is no surprise to see him choose his incredible victory at the Monaco Grand Prix, which he described as a "relief" due to the mechanical issues which threatened the win in Monte Carlo.

The Australian endured a tumultuous campaign which was marred by constant engine reliability issues, with him suffering numerous DNF results as a consequence.

The major highlight in 2018 was a win against the odds in Monaco as he battled to P1 despite not having gears seven and eight on his car and having overheating brakes.

“The feeling crossing the line in Monaco was more relief than anything else because that victory was two years in the making. Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic, but with everything going on with the car, relief was uppermost," Ricciardo admitted.

“The car started having problems early in the race and, initially, I didn’t think I could hold on. I saw Seb [Vettel] ready to pounce and thought ‘oh boy’. I was losing so much time on the straights, the only way I could stay in front of him was to go very quickly in the corners, which was chewing up the tyres. I assumed I wouldn’t have them left to defend at the end of the race.

“After a while though, I got into a rhythm and started to believe I could hold him off – and by halfway I believed I could do it. That’s when the brakes started to fail! They became critical during a Virtual Safety Car period and the team thought we’d be retiring the car at the restart – but they didn’t tell me that!”

Ricciardo announced during the season that he would be leaving Red Bull ahead of the 2019 campaign, with Renault securing his services moving forward.

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