2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Highlights

 

Visa Cash App F1 Team

 

Further down the field, Visa Cash App RB F1 Team’s Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo battled hard in the middle of the pack but finished outside the points in 14th and 16th places, respectively, at the 2024 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo

It was a tough race and a tough weekend, which was very frustrating. When almost everyone pitted during the Safety Car time, we had a slow pit stop and a few laps from the end, I made a mistake and hit too much kerb in Turn 1, which caused a spin. I’m staying optimistic, though, as I know we have some positive signs, and we need to polish our package up. We have a week off now, and there will be a big push from everyone to get it right and ensure we have a good package for the next race. I know the team wants it as badly as I do. I’m excited to go back racing in Melbourne, so let’s prepare for it.

Yuki Tsunoda

It was a difficult race today. I made some mistakes and let some cars behind me pass when I tried to overtake the car in front, and that’s my fault. We struggled with our pace and grip today, so driving was difficult. On the positive side, we had a strong qualifying, and we’ll look into our race pace and figure out why we struggled as much as we did. I can improve on some things today, so we’ll look through them and apply the learnings in the future.

Laurent Mekies – Team Principal

It was a disappointing result for the team today after much good work during the weekend. Yuki was fighting for what could have been a P10 finish. He was passed by Magnussen, who cut the track to do so and then slowed down the whole pack to let his teammate open a gap to pit in front of us. It made the penalty imposed on Magnussen meaningless, destroying Yuki’s race. It was a disappointing finish after a perfect qualifying yesterday. A very long pit stop compromised Daniel’s race during the double stack under the Safety Car. He then drove a large part of the race in heavy traffic. In an ultra-tight midfield, you fall off very quickly as soon as you don’t get everything perfect, and the race was certainly not ideal for us. We’ll continue working hard in Faenza and Bicester, and the team is looking forward to resuming the fight in Melbourne.

Alan Permane – Racing Director

With Yuki, we did a conventional race like most others. We started him on the medium tyre, and when the Safety Car came out, we pitted him for the hard compound. What then happened was a little tricky to take. Magnussen drove off the track to deliberately put himself in front of Yuki and then slowed him down by up to two seconds a lap, which allowed Hulkenberg, who hadn’t stopped yet, to create a gap and, of course, pit in front of all the cars behind. That, to me, doesn’t seem correct and is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behaviour. We and other teams will discuss it with the FIA for future races. Regarding Daniel’s race, we had a problem with the tyres during his pitstop, and it put him at the back of the field; from here, it wasn’t easy to move forward.

Overall, we made a step with our understanding of the car and qualified well, which is positive. We now look forward to a break for our team after a long three weeks away, and I have no doubt we’ll come back stronger in Melbourne.




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