Daniel Ricciardo fought back from a 10-second penalty to surge through the field at the Mexico Grand Prix.
The Australian, who has endured a nightmare 2022 which saw him dumped by McLaren for next season, was battling Yuki Tsunoda for 11th when he collided with the AlphaTauri driver on lap 51.
Tsunoda, who was sent hurtling off the track and was eventually forced to retire, immediately vented his frustrations on team radio.
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‘Welcome back Dan, we’ve missed you’ | 00:54
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“What the f*** is he doing,” Tsunoda raged.
Race stewards immediately investigated the incident and judged Ricciardo to be at fault. He was slapped with a 10 second penalty, one that that F1 legend Martin Brundle labeled harsh.
“Ten seconds, I thought that was quite harsh for that,” he said on Sky Sports coverage.
“Five seconds seemed fair.
“It was clear though that Daniel was at fault. He needed to be alongside Tsunoda or get out of the way earlier.”
The penalty seemed to light a fire under Ricciardo. He quickly overtook McLaren teammate Lando Norris before surging past Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.
Esteban Occon was the next driver in his sight as Ricciaro set the Mexico Grand Prix light.
“It has really fired him up, fired him up in a treat,” Brundle said on the coverage.
“He’s a candidate for driver of the day with all the overtaking he’s doing. He’s so charged up.”
McLaren F1 Team’s Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo finally had something to smile about in Mexico.Source: AFP
Fellow F1 great David Croft then lauded Ricciardo’s driving and return to form.
“Welcome back Daniel, we missed you,” he said.
“He’s driven with fire in the belly. Completely different to the United States just a week ago.”
Ricciardo held on for seventh place, even with the time penalty, to secure his best result since the Singapore Grand Prix in October and third best of the season.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, meanwhile, claimed a record 14th victory of the Formula One season.
World champion Verstappen finished a comfortable 15.186 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes while Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez finished third on home soil.
It was the second win inside a week for Dutchman Verstappen, who also triumphed at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
Verstappen has now beaten the record previously held by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel for the most wins in a single season.
“It has been an incredible year so far, we are definitely enjoying it and we’ll try to go for more (victories),” said Verstappen.
George Russell finished a frustrated fourth for Mercedes, but clocked the fastest lap ahead of the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, both unable to find the pace to make any impact on the leading quartet.
The F1 world, meanwhile, shared the sentiment around Ricciardo’s resurrection.
