The FIA Formula 1 World Championship’s grand return to Brazil has ended in disappointment for Daniel Ricciardo with the West Australian suffering his first DNF for the season.
In what was a difficult weekend at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Ricciardo started the Sao Paolo Grand Prix in 11th place having lost three places during Sunday morning’s Sprint race.
But the 32-year-old didn’t let that affect him and started the Brazilian race well, fighting his way to eighth before getting as high as fourth before taking his pit stop.
Returning to the field in P8, Riccardo’s day then took a turn for the worse not long after, when he started to lose power. Despite trying, he was unable to fix the issue and was brought back to the pits on lap 51 and retired his car.
The DNF ended Ricciardo’s 34-race consecutive run of finishes – the longest streak of any driver on the 2021 grid.
“I 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,” Ricciardo said.
“We made a couple of switch changes but it was dropping more and more and we couldn’t fix it on track.
“Hopefully it’s recoverable but it was game over today.
"We’ve been pretty robust this year but obviously these things can happen.
“We were looking like we were going to get a few points and the race was going pretty well, we were coping pretty well – potentially a one-stop strategy could have worked out for us strongly.
“It 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.”
Making matters worse for McLaren was the struggles for Ricciardo’s teammate Lando Norris, who suffered a puncture early in the race and only salvaged one point after finishing tenth, while both Ferrari’s drivers finished with a decent haul of points – extending the gap in the Constructors’ Championship to 31.5 points.
While it was a forgettable day for McLaren, the Brazilian race proved exceptional for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, who claimed a brilliant victory over championship rival Max Verstappen and teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Having dominated qualifying early on Saturday morning to take pole position, Hamilton was then forced back to grid post-session due to a DRS infringement.
The Brit then powered his way through the field in the Sprint Race, finishing the 24-lap dash in fifth place.
Having then been relegated to P10, just ahead of Ricciardo, due to an engine penalty, Hamilton worked his way towards the front to find himself up against the leading Verstappen.
Just like they have all year, the duo then put on a show for fans as they battled hard for the lead with Hamilton almost passing on the 53rd lap before being run wide by his rival.
Hamilton didn’t have to wait much longer to have another go at the Dutchman, and once he did get the chance a few laps later, he successfully made the pass before charging home to a 10 second victory.
Finishing just off the podium was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who claimed the fastest lap, while Charles Leclerc rounded out the top five ahead of Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz.
There is no rest for the Formula 1 championship with the first ever Qatar Grand Prix to take place at Losail Circuit just outside of Doha this coming weekend.