Daniel Ricciardo was hoping for a good battle in Sunday's Russian Grand Prix, the Aussie driver aiming to finish in the same position he qualified in, fifth, however, after the safety car came in after a first lap incident, the rear brakes on his Red Bull Racing contender caught on fire.
Up until that point Dan was fighting with the Force India's when he saw that the brakes were on fire and he was told to come into his pit box where he then retired.
It was not the end he wanted, but that's Motor Racing at its best and now he is just hoping that the upgrade package that is scheduled to go onto his car for the next round in Barcelona gives him that extra push he has been searching for since the season started in March.
"The start felt pretty good initially, I seemed to get away quicker than the guys in front which backed me up and meant I lost momentum. I was then a bit of a sitting duck on the outside line losing track position but it looked like it would be a good battle from there. After the safety car I looked in my mirror to see where the Force India was and I noticed that the right rear brake was on fire, I reported it to the team and they told me to bring the car back to the pits slowly."
"Unfortunately the issue could not be fixed and I had to retire from the race. It was early in the race so I don't know how much the safety car and two starts impacted us but the team will obviously investigate that. "
"It's frustrating, on a Sunday you just build up for the race and try to store up your adrenaline to use at 3pm but today it was over very quickly and unfortunately I didn't get as much of a fight as I would have liked. We don't know how much the new package will give us until we get it on track in a few weeks but we are hoping Barcelona is the first step to getting closer to the leaders."
