'Nightmare': Disbelief over Daniel Ricciardo disaster in Brazil
Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo suffered a horror race week after he was forced to withdraw from the Brazilian Grand Prix after his car suffered power loss.
Hamilton hunted down Verstappen to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix for Mercedes and slash his Red Bull rival's championship lead to 14 points with three races remaining.
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Meanwhile, Ricciardo didn't have the best sprint race earlier, after dropping back from eighth in his McLaren.
The Australian appeared to turn the corner on Monday (AEDT) and was looking good as he reached as high as fourth before making a stop in eighth position.
But, after 51 laps, Ricciardo was forced to pull out of the race after his car suffered power loss.
Ricciardo's withdrawal brought an end to his 34-race finishing streak, the second longest on the grid.
The McLaren star said he felt his engine start to go a few laps earlier and tried to persevere before calling time.
โI felt it coming in a few laps earlier and [my engineer] had also noticed it so I asked him if we could do something to help,โ Ricciardo said of his withdrawal.
โWe made a couple of switch changes but it was dropping more and more and we couldnโt fix it on track.
โHopefully itโs recoverable but it was game over today.
Daniel Ricciardo laments uncontrollable Brazil disaster
Ricciardo said he thought the race was going well, but the power loss was not an issue he had seen this year.
โNot this year. I guess thatโs a good thing. Weโve been pretty robust this year but obviously these things can happen," he added.
โWe were looking like we were going to get a few points and the race was going pretty well, we were coping pretty well โ potentially a one-stop strategy could have worked out for us strongly.
โIt was definitely a better day than yesterday and I was happy with how we were going but it was just out of our control today.โ
Fans were left shattered for the Australian, who was finally looking strong before his McLaren broke down.
It's a nightmare scenario for McLaren as a Lap 1 collision with Sainz meant Norris was forced to fight his way back to 10th.
Ricciardo later retired in the pits with a mechanical failure.
Ferrari finished 5th and 6th and extended their constructors lead.#F1 / #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/GNCi49oNwZโ The Formula (@TheFormulaF1) November 14, 2021
Lap 51 | Daniel Ricciardo has now retired from the race. Valuable points gone for McLaren in their battle for third.#F1 #SaoPauloGP
โ ThePitCrewOnline ยฉ (@PitCrew_Online) November 14, 2021
I am so engrossed in Hamilton vs Verstappen, I didnโt notice Ricciardo is out ๐ญ #BrazilGP
โ Aanchal Agrawal (@awwwnchal) November 14, 2021
Ricciardo retires, joining Stroll out of the race #F1 #BrazilGP
โ Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) November 14, 2021
Ricciardo retired from the race. Could be some huge points for Ferrari in their fight for P3 today#BrazilGP
โ tami. (@Vetteleclerc) November 14, 2021
Wait Ricciardo went out 15 minutes ago and I legit didn't even notice #F1 #SkyF1 #SaoPauloGP
โ Ben (@ThatMetalNessie) November 14, 2021
Not the way we all wanted @DanielRicciardoโs #BrazilGP to end. ๐ง๐ท
Keep smiling. ๐งก pic.twitter.com/Wnh25mFsz9โ McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 14, 2021
Teammate Lando Norris was able to battle back from a punctured tyre to claim 0th spot and earn a point for McLaren.
However, McLaren now trail Ferrari in the battle for third position.
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