Poor result for Red Bull on weekend of potential

Locking out the second row of the grid, the soaking conditions at the Circuit of the Americas were proving to be a benefit for Red Bull, negating the power deficit of their Renault engine. Indeed, in the early stages of the race, they were battling the two Mercedes cars for the lead.

However, once the track dried out and everybody was on slicks, things began to turn sour for the Milton Keynes outlet. Daniel Ricciardo made contact with Nico Hulkenberg at turn 12, leaving him with damage which compromised the rest of his race. He came home 10th for a solitary point.

“It was looking find in the beginning, definitely. Good four-way battle,” he said, “To see the Mercs not get away was awesome. Danny had a crack and then I would say I came on a bit stronger towards the end of the inters stint. And then once I got the lead, obviously felt we could control it but it didn’t last long. Then it dried up and that wasn’t really what we were after.

"We struggled with the warm-up with the tyres and also struggled a lot with braking today,” he added, “It was so tricky in the dry and then obviously there were the collisions with Hulkenberg and Carlos. It went downhill from then on.

"Even though we were on slicks it was never really dry out there. The kerbs were slippery and there was still a bit of a puddle through Turns 9 and 10, so it was definitely tricky. It was a crazy race and I hope the fans enjoyed it as it was quite action packed.”

Team mate Daniil Kvyat crashed at the penultimate corner, which meant a premature end to his race.

“The opening laps were mega, it was very enjoyable and it was nice fighting but then the track dried out," the Russian said.

“If it was a wet race I felt it could have been a victory today. It's easy to say that, but there's no point really, because once it dried out we were an easy target for everyone, which was a bit frustrating. We weren't able to be as competitive in the dry as in the wet so we'll have to have a look at that.

"In the dry, I was driving a bit over my limit when I crashed, I put the wheels on the artificial grass, tried to carry a bit more speed but it didn't work out and I'm disappointed with myself.”

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