Ricciardo: “We need to improve our starts”

Daniel Ricciardo finished the Russian Formula 1 GP in seventh place, behind Fernando Alonso. The Red Bull driver lost several positions at the start and at the end found himself fighting with the Spaniard for sixth position.

“The first laps were quite chaotic and we lost several positions at the start. It's something we need to work on, we're almost at the end of the season now, but we haven't had many good starts so it's a bit frustrating. At the start the tires already had blistering, I also had it in qualifying, so they were not healthy and during the first stint they got worse; the tires were starting to fall apart, so I got back in quite early. Then the first tires lasted well, we had a good pace and I was able to catch Alonso but I wasn't able to overtake him. Congratulations to Mercedes, they dominated the season, hats off to them."

His teammate, Sebastian Vettel, finished the race in eighth place: “I made a good start and then there was a tough battle with Daniel but from then on the speed was nothing special, I had the same problems as in qualifying. I was alone for most of the race, it was fun at first but after that there wasn't much to do. Congratulations to Mercedes for the title, they deserve it."