Daniel Ricciardo in ugly clash with teammate in French Grand Prix
There was a little bit of argy-bargy between McLaren teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris during Sunday night's French Grand Prix.
The pair turned in McLaren's best team result in several weeks, with a combination of strong driving and good strategy helping the pair pick their way through the field.
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After starting in 8th and 10th respectively, Norris and Ricciardo accelerated through the field to finish 5th and 6th - but Norris had to get his elbows out to get past Ricciardo after falling behind at the start.
Though the pair are generally affable as teammates, the fast starting Ricciardo slipped by teammate Norris and gave the young Briton a hard time getting the place back.
After Norris ran wide on lap two trying to get past the Australian, the 21-year-old expressed some frustration over the team radio that was picked up by Sky Sports analyst Ted Kravitz.
“The McLaren drivers are not making it easy for each other,” Kravitz said.
“Lando Norris, having gone off, sort of complaining a little bit on the radio about Daniel Ricciardo, telling them, ‘He’s pushing me wide, not giving me enough space’.”
Ricciardo would eventually yield the place the Norris, after a slightly later pitstop left the British driver on fresher rubber towards the end of the grand prix.
Nevertheless, Ricciardo did enough to hold off Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly to bring home sixth.
After a mixed bag of results over the prior three rounds, Ricciardo was encouraged by his performance in France.
“It was fun — battled, fought, talked some smack, elbows out and then had to hold off a fast-charging (Pierre) Gasly and (Fernando) Alonso at the end,” Ricciardo said.
“After the frustrations of Monaco, I kind of took a step back and was like ‘big picture’ — I know that it’s going to come and I know that if I keep persisting … I think like staying resilient through it all, days like this will come and I will be able to battle, pull off some moves and all that sort of stuff.
“So this car will feel like home and I think today it started to feel a little more like home — and the next two (races) coming up are hopefully fun ones as well, with some good moves, battles. And it’s nice seeing the others suffer a little bit more than us as well.
“It was a fun race and I’m happy we brought it home in fifth and sixth for the team today. It’s about time we got back in these positions, so it was a positive day.”
Max Verstappen wins third straight F1 race at French Grand Prix
Max Verstappen has roared past world champion Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap to win a pulsating French Grand Prix and strengthen his lead in the Formula One championship race.
Verstappen stopped one more time than his rival in Sunday's race after Red Bull rolled the tactical dice and outfoxed their Mercedes rivals.
Indeed, Hamilton will be left questioning a series of strategy calls by his team after he led the opening exchanges of the race.
Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez also fought his way past Bottas to take third place, with the Finn fourth, McLaren's Lando Norris fifth and his Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo sixth.
Verstappen, who crossed the line 2.9 seconds clear of Hamilton, has extended his championship lead to 12 points.
"When we made the call to do a two-stop strategy, it paid off," said Verstappen following his third win of the season. "We had to work hard for it but it was very rewarding.
"The whole race we were fighting each other so it is going to be like this for the rest of the season."
Hamilton said: "I am not sure how we lost the position today. We didn't know how strong that [undercut] was going to be.
"They had a good strategy and it worked well for them. The only option I had was to stay out as long as possible and hope the tyres hold together."
Following the chequered flag, Mercedes' chief strategist James Vowles apologised to Hamilton, saying over the radio: "That one is on us."
With AAP
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