Why finishing fourth was 'frustrating' for Daniel Ricciardo

Any racer who misses out on a podium is bound to be a little unhappy but that wasn’t necessarily why Daniel Ricciardo was “quite upset” following the Brazilian Grand Prix.

After retiring his Red Bull from the last two Formula One events, in one sense just managing to finish was good enough for the Australian driver.

A number of smooth overtakes and successful battles against Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas lifted him from 11th to fourth at the chequered flag.

Finally having pace and going the full distance, Ricciardo was actually disappointed that it arrived after having copped another grid penalty.

He was punted five places for taking a new turbocharger to replace the part damaged by the local marshals’ use of a fire extinguisher at the Mexican Grand Prix.

“It was fun. It was, for sure. I can’t help but be a bit – I don’t want this to be another negative interview, it won’t be,” he told Sky Sports.

“I’ll finish on a positive. If I’m honest, as soon as I crossed the line at the end I was actually quite upset because the podium was so close and we had the pace, you know.

“I don’t have any regrets, I don’t feel I lost the podium or the team lost it for me. We did everything we could so I’m not upset about that but I just feel like every time we start out of position or at the back, we have a fast car.”

He added later: “It’s frustrating … If we started closer to the front I’m confident we could have had a really good result. It’s bittersweet, I guess.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner echoed Ricciardo’s thoughts, saying “we can’t help but feel that we have been robbed” by the penalty.

Ricciardo’s relatively positive response was in stark contrast to teammate Max Verstappen shoving rival driver Esteban Ocon in the garage over an on-track collision.

The Australian has now finished fourth six times this season, with his race wins in Azerbaijan and Monaco still his only podium finishes.

He has just one more race with Red Bull – the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in two weeks’ time – for what could be his last shot at a top-three finish for some time.

Asked if his Brazilian performance had lifted his hopes of a final win with the team, he lowered expectations.

“Did you say win? I’m gonna say podium, let’s start there,” he said.

“With the pace we had today I really have some optimism going into Abu Dhabi. I feel like that’s always a stronger track for us than this is.”