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A victory at the Monaco Grand Prix is on the bucket list of every F1 driver lucky enough to claim a spot on the grid, but for Daniel Ricciardo, he ‘hated nearly every lap’ of his win in 2018 despite the outcome being one of his greatest achievements in the sport.
The 2016 edition of the Monaco Grand Prix occurred just one race after Max Verstappen secured his maiden victory in F1 at Barcelona.
Karun Chandhok pinpointed this moment as a changing of the guard inside Red Bull, so Daniel Ricciardo was keen on shifting the tide back in his favour at the Austrian constructor
However, what ensued was a classic example of how euphoria can change to desolation in a heartbeat in F1.
A mistake from the Red Bull pit wall saw his first opportunity of winning on the streets of Monaco slip through his fingers, in what turned out to be one of the worst moments of Ricciardo’s F1 career.
Ricciardo then raced with a chip on his shoulder until the F1 circus returned to the principality two years later. His pole position offered the team a chance to redeem themselves in the eyes of the charismatic Australian, but an issue with the RB14 nearly scuppered his dream once again.
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Daniel Ricciardo ‘hated nearly every lap’ of the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix
During a 2019 appearance on Nico Rosberg’s Beyond Victory podcast, Ricciardo was asked by the 2016 world champion whether his feat at Monaco was the greatest race of his career.
With the memories of that day still relatively fresh in his mind, the Australian replied, “The outcome, yes, absolutely. The race itself actually sucked. I hated nearly every lap because I had the issue from, I think, lap 28 of about 78.
“So, for 50 laps. That’s all I thought about. I’d done everything I needed to that weekend, and I’d just put myself in the right position to win. Then I came out of the casino, and I felt something.
“I knew something was wrong. I felt a loss of power, and I just came on the radio and told the guys. It wasn’t anger; it was actually just devastation.
“When you start losing power, you think it’s going to keep dropping, dropping until the engine’s done.
“But yeah, I got through a few more laps, and I asked my engineer, ‘Is it going to get better?’ He goes, ‘No.’ And then I was like, ‘Oh, so I got to deal with this now 50-odd laps.'”
- READ MORE: Christian Horner pinpoints the main reason Daniel Ricciardo never won a championship at Red Bull
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Daniel Ricciardo’s mentality was the only positive he took from the race
Ricciardo’s mentality in the latter stages of his career is understood to be what led to his demise in F1, but it turned out to be his saving grace in Monaco that year.
Asked if he had any positives to take from the race, the Australian replied, “No… Actually, for a few laps, I was pretty negative and pretty down, and I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to keep Seb behind me.’
“We were already at a power deficit on the straights, and now we’ve got 160 horsepower less. Then five laps passed, and I could see I was actually staying afloat; he was getting bloody close, but I was like, ‘If I get this clean, if I get that corner clean, that exit, I reckon I’ll be able to defend.’
“Fortunately, Monaco’s tight. So then my confidence came back, and I kind of grew confidence through the rest of the race.
“I got to a point, probably within my head, where I told myself, if I get to 20 laps to go without still being in the lead, I’m not losing this race.’ So that was my like mini target. I remember getting to that point, and I was like, ‘No one’s taking this.'”
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