Perez should never have been allowed to win – Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo

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Perez should never have been allowed to win – Ricciardo

Renault driver praises rival for victory but is left baffled by how he managed to do it

Will Gray

Monday 7 December 2020 18:04

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Daniel Ricciardo believes Sergio Perez should never have been allowed to win Sunday’s Sakhir Grand Prix after finishing lap one in the pits and in last place.

Ricciardo, who was fifth in his Renault, was pleased for the Racing Point driver for achieving his first Formula 1 victory but was left wondering at the performance of the rest of the drivers on the grid.

Perez was forced into a pit stop at the end of lap one after being pitched into a spin by Charles Leclerc that took the Ferrari driver out of the race along with Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

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Relegated to 18th, Perez then made the most of his strategy before being aided by the bungled Mercedes pit stop that cost George Russell and Valtteri Bottas their shots at victory.

Despite such factors coming into play, Ricciardo said: “Obviously, congrats to him, but for everyone else, you can’t let someone win who’s in the pits on lap one.”

The race was even harder to take for Ricciardo because of the first-lap incident in which Perez was seemingly out of contention, while two other main rivals in Leclerc Verstappen were no longer running.

“As soon as that happened, I was P4 on lap one, Max was out, [and I was] a contender for the podium,’ said Ricciardo. “I felt like there was a lot of opportunity.

“But we got undercut in the pit stops, so that whole second stint was spent behind [Daniil] Kvyat, and I felt for the track position we had, we should have done more.”

The tough day was exacerbated for Ricciardo by the fact he had to play second fiddle to team-mate Esteban Ocon, who picked up his first podium in F1 with second place behind Perez.

With Racing Point finishing not only first but third via Lance Stroll, the team has now vaulted 10 points clear of McLaren in the battle for third place in the constructors' championship, with Renault 22 adrift.

Ricciardo added: “I gave a shout out to his [Ocon’s] side of the garage. They had a really strong race, so congrats to him. It’s mixed because second and fifth is huge for the team, but then you see Racing Point one and three so it’s tough.

“I’ll suck this one up. It’s a pretty sad fifth. I wasn’t pleased with how the race panned out in terms of strategy and there were a few calls where I thought we just missed the ball, we were just a step behind. “