Daniel Ricciardo has stormed his way back into the FIA Formula 1 World Championship points thanks to a stellar drive in the Mexican Grand Prix on Monday morning.
 
After narrowly missing out on Q3 in qualifying, the West Australian started the third last round of the season from 11th place before working his way up to seventh and scoring his first points since the Singapore Grand Prix.
 
In a performance that earned him the fan driven Driver of the Day, Ricciardo was made to work for his third best result of the year after dropping places early on before receiving a 10 second penalty during the middle stint of the race.
 
A bold tyre strategy and some remarkable passing manoeuvres were the key elements to Ricciardo’s recovery into the top 10 after dropping to 13th on the opening lap.
 
McLaren then chose to keep Ricciardo on the medium tyres for 46 laps, giving him track position and ultimately allowing him to change to softs for the race’s final stint of the race.
 
Contact with Yuki Tsunoda just five laps later saw Ricciardo incur a 10 second penalty, and the potential to have his race ruined after the Japanese driver retired.
 
Ricciardo used that penalty as motivation though as he charged through the field with some brilliant driving, to eventually return to the top 10 and into seventh where he finished.
 
“You know it’s been a bad year when it’s my first time here (as Driver of the Day). I’m very happy but it still wasn’t straightforward. Obviously I still got a 10 second penalty,” Ricciardo said post-race.
 
“I’m a little mixed about it (the incident with Tsunoda). Of course, you never want contact to a point where the other guy goes off. I just saw a replay… I don’t feel as bad about it now. Of course, I wish it still didn’t happen.
 
“I thought five seconds would have been okay. I’ll take a bit more responsibility, but I can’t say it was 100 percent my fault.
 
“That was a little bit of a difficult moment in the race. I was pretty dark. I felt like I still had a really good pace, so I got on with it and somehow made it work.”

There was far less drama when it came to the battle for outright race honours as champion-elect Max Verstappen enjoyed a comfortable run from lights out to the chequered flag, securing a record-breaking 14th win of the season.
 
Behind him was seven-time Lewis Hamilton, who netted his second runner-up finish in as many races, and hometown hero Sergio Perez rounded out the podium in Mexico for the second year-running.
 
With Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finishing sixth behind George Russell and Carlos Sainz, Perez now moves in second on the outright standings ahead of Leclerc.
 
Ricciardo’s seventh place finish, ahead of Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, and Valtteri Bottas, proved valuable as he closes the gap on 11th place Sebastian Vettel to just one point, while Bottas is just 12 points ahead in 10th ahead of the two final races.
 
The FIA Formula 1 World Championship has the week off before heading to Interlagos in Sao Paulo for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday 13 November (Monday 14 November in Australia).