After the sixth win of his career at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, there does seem to be a trend forming. In all six of those wins, Ricciardo has started from outside the top three on the starting grid, and his drive from sixth on Sunday was from the equal lowest position in the history at the Shanghai International Circuit. The Red Bull driver put on an overtaking clinic, moving from sixth to first within eight laps, and flew past teammate Max Verstappen, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. All that came after the 28-year-old’s engine blew up in the final practice and his mechanical crew had to work just to get him to qualifying.
Ricciardo’s efforts in overtaking four of the top-five drivers in the competition in quick succession came after a switch to soft tyres while the safety car was on the track. Racing started again on Lap 36 of 56 and Ricciardo had moved past fifth-placed Raikkonen the next tour. By Lap 45, he snuck inside Bottas to take the lead. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner called Ricciardo’s drive “absolutely clinical”. The Perth-raised driver made 43 passing moves in 2017, more than any other driver, including many in a memorable race where he moved from 16th to fourth in the 2017 Italian GP at Monza. That tally was in just 20 races and came with Ricciardo retiring in six of them. His “three-in-one” pass at the Azerbaijan GP in Baku was awarded the ‘pass of the year’ in a fan poll on the Formula 1 website.
It was an award he had won in 2014 after his stunning overtake of then teammate and defending world champion Vettel at Monza. Verstappen and Ricciardo have topped the passing charts the past few years, but 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg says the Australian comes out on top. “Max [Verstappen] and Daniel [Ricciardo] are the best [at passing], but Max just messes up too much,” Rosberg said. “Daniel just makes it stick and that makes him the best in Formula 1. He’s really a huge talent at overtaking. Horner has also described Ricciardo as, “arguably the best overtaker in the business” after Hamilton neglected to mention the Australian when rating the best four drivers in F1 in December. The Brit got a taste of Ricciardo’s daring on Sunday, with the Red Bull driver braking late to fly past the Mercedes man into third on Lap 40. “Sometimes you have just got to lick the stamp and send it,” Ricciardo said of the move in his typically laidback fashion. “I enjoyed it very much. We had the soft tyres, so I knew I could get more out of the braking than them. A lot of the time you get one chance to try so I make the most of every opportunity.”
