The FIA Formula 1 World Championship’s historic 70th anniversary event has been run and won at Silverstone overnight, with Max Verstappen ending Mercedes’ dominant start to 2020.
While Verstappan and Red Bull's strategy paid massive dividends, it was a tough outing for former teammate and Motorsport Australia ambassador Daniel Ricciardo, who finished the Grand Prix in 14th.
Having enjoyed an equal best result for Renault with fourth a week earlier, and starting this race in fifth, there was optimism in the Ricciardo camp about a potential first podium since joining the French outfit if things fell his way.
However that optimism quickly disappeared, as Ricciardo battled with degrading tyres for a majority of the race, before a mistake resulted in a spin, all but ending his hopes of a points finish – let alone a podium.
Despite being disappointed with the result, Ricciardo tried to remain positive after his car showed pace throughout the weekend.
“It was a race that just kept getting away from us,” Ricciardo said.
“It felt like it was going good, actually. Then we pitted and put another medium (tyre) on to follow the two-stop and that second medium just didn’t work.”
Photo: Renault F1 Media
“So we had to pit shortly after for the hard and we were out of sequence, we were in that battle I don’t think we should have been in and I spun trying to hold Carlos off.
“I’m trying not to cry about it but it’s just one of those days. We’ve got to learn from it. A Sunday with great hope and little reward.”
While there was heartache at Renault, there was elation at Red Bull as the team’s bold strategy to start on hard tyres proved to be the difference and helped Verstappen claim an unlikely victory.
The Dutchman started the race in fourth but quickly got past Niko Hulkenburg in the opening corners, before chasing down Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas and picking up the lead when the leading duo went into the pits.
From there, he held onto top spot and managed his tyres brilliantly – comfortably reaching the chequered flag ahead of a charging Hamilton and Bottas.
There is no rest for Formula 1 with the Championship heading straight to Barcelona for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.