US Grand Prix: Daniel Ricciardo punched hole through wall in anger after latest Red Bull retirement
Ricciardo failed to finish a Grand Prix this season for the seventh time and took his frustration out on the Red Bull hospitality home after seeing teammate Max Verstappen finish second
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Your support makes all the difference.Daniel Ricciardo took his anger out on Red Bull’s hospitality unit after the frustration of yet another Renault power unit failure boiled of during the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, with the Australian punching a hole through on of its walls.
In what proved to be his seventh retirement of the season, Ricciardo’s Red Bull ground to a familiar halt when the power completely cut out on lap 10 while he was running in a strong fourth position.
Given that his teammate, Max Verstappen, was able to charge through the field from 18th to finish second, it looked to be an opportunity missed for Ricciardo as he would have had genuine hopes of winning the Grand Prix. This realisation appeared to hit him as he returned to the paddock, with the fiery Australian punching through one of the walls inside the state-of-the-art Red Bull hospitality home.
“He’s taken out his frustration in his room by putting his fist through the wall, which you can totally relate to,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.
“I’m sure he’ll be having a word with his future employers about it – it’s so frustrating to keep losing him from races at the moment.”
The retirement further strains the relationship between Red Bull and Renault, which is due to end once the season finishes as the four-time constructors’ champions switch to Honda power next season. However, Ricciardo will not make the switch to Honda engines as he is leaving Red Bull to join Renault, though Horner does not expect Ricciardo to have to take any further punishment at the Mexico Grand Prix this weekend.
“It looks like a major issue in the energy store and it just takes out all the power,” Horner said.
“We’ve got another energy store within the allocation without having to take a penalty and the Renault guys in the garage have obviously apologised, which we appreciate, but the frustration is for Daniel.
“He knows it’s not a team issue, he knows it’s nothing we’ve done. He can’t get his head around why it keeps happening to him.”
But this did not numb the pain for Ricciardo, who evidently knew he lost a chance at winning the race by what Verstappen was able to achieve.
“I couldn’t even communicate with anyone on the radio so it looks like a battery failure,” he said.
“Now, seeing how the race played out makes it even harder to take as it could have been pretty interesting and it was a great afternoon for Max.”
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