Ricciardo: Renault can't make these mistakes
- Bobby Vincent
A very frustrated Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that his Renault side "can't make these mistakes" after a strategy call in Monaco saw the Aussie fall down the order.
Ricciardo enjoyed a strong qualifying session for Renault, with the 2018 Monaco GP winner qualifying in P6 on the grid. However, the Aussie was left frustrated after pitting under the early safety car, with his rivals enjoying more track-time when opting to stay out and going for longer first stints.
After his pitstop, Ricciardo was in a group of cars being held up by Lando Norris. Ricciardo eventually went onto finish in P10 on the track, but gained a place following Romain Grosjean receiving a time penalty.
"We just fell into cars that we didn't need to fall behind," Ricciardo admitted. "It was frustrating. I'll sort it out with the team, obviously we want to do better and we can do better, and we need to start doing better.
"Obviously Lando was going to hold us up, because Carlos (Sainz) was opening up a window. These are things which, I'm driving the car and with everything else going on, I see it so clearly, how can the others not see it? We can't make these mistakes.
"Around here, track-position is key, and we had it. All morning we talked about jumping Kevin (Magnussen) at the start, and we did it, and the team got me going on the first lap. We were excited, but we just handed it all back.
"I saw Kevin after the race, and he was filthy as well. We both got hard done by. Look, I can't whine, I've got to be constructive about it, and just know what we can do better."