Red Bull disappointed not to meet potential in Japan

Red Bull were expected to perform well on the tight and twisty Suzuka Circuit, especially after giving a strong performance at the previous race in Singapore. However, contact with Felipe Massa at the start saw Daniel Ricciardo’s race turn sour early on.

“It’s just unfortunate,” he said after the race, “I think I probably would have been 5th into turn 1 but we were nearly a lap down [after the contact]. It’s just racing.

“I think we still showed we’ve got decent pace, so we’ll move on to Russia, probably not our strongest circuit, but after that we’ve got a few good ones.”

Daniil Kvyat had a spectacular crash at the end of Q3, which required a total rebuild of his car. A pit lane start meant his hopes of a decent race result were thwarted.

“It was pretty boring for me out there this afternoon because a combination of circumstances meant I had to just sit back and was unable to attack,” the Russian said, “I had a completely new car, so that wasn’t so easy. We had difficulties with the tyres, the brakes and the overtake button, which made life complicated.

“In the end, I did manage to overtake some people, but it wasn’t great. It’s frustrating and annoying, but there was nothing I could do. Battling for P13 does not give you much satisfaction. But a big thank you to the team, they had a lot of work to do on Saturday night to get the car ready for the race.”

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