Ricciardo regrets missed F1 opportunity

Daniel Ricciardo made a strong start to the Belgian Grand Prix, but it all went downhill from there.

Australia's Daniel Ricciardo says he could have secured a podium place in the Belgian Grand Prix had a sudden power failure not forced him to retire.

Ricciardo, who started in fifth position, had already surged into third by the first corner of the 43-lap Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Sunday.

He was challenging Sergio Perez of Force India for second behind leader Lewis Hamilton.

After maintaining his place for the opening stages of the race, Red Bull called the 26-year-old in for an early pit stop after just seven laps.

Back on the track, Ricciardo passed Perez briefly but both were soon caught amid a bunch of slower cars.

"We got the undercut over Perez but then we sort of got boxed in with Kimi and Perez got me back quite easily down the straight," Ricciardo told F1i.

Despite struggling a little, he got back into fourth and still appeared to be on track for a strong result when his Red Bull lost power on lap 20, forcing him to retire.

"We definitely had our sights set on a podium and put ourselves in that position at the start," Ricciardo said.

"It's easy to say now but I think we would have generally been in with the fight with (Romain) Grosjean for the last spot on the podium."

Renault's Matthieu Dubois confirmed it was a technical problem.

"We need to investigate fully why this happened as it is a missed opportunity," Dubois said.


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Source: AAP


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