Mexico: Late surge after penalty propels Daniel to seventh

Daniel's race comes alive on soft tyres late after a penalty for collecting Yuki Tsunoda, seeing him named Driver of the Day after storming to six points.

Race data
Mexico (Round 20 of 22), 30 October 2022
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 71 laps, 4.304km
Qualified: 11th
Finished: 7th
Laps per position: 13 laps (7th), 3 laps (8th), 9 laps (9th), 6 laps (10th), 6 laps (11th), 24 laps (12th), 9 laps (13th)
Pit stops/tyres: Lap 44 (medium/soft)
Fastest lap: 1:22.022 (3rd, lap 48)
Points this event: 6
Points this season: 35 (12th in world championship)

Daniel's download
"I knew that I would get a penalty for the incident with Yuki (Tsunoda) because he went off, and then retired. Because of what happened to him, I knew I was going to get one. I thought 10 seconds was, as much I knew it was a possibility, quite punchy … but again, I knew I was going to get something. I watched a replay and I definitely felt we both could have done better, but I'll accept it as I wasn't fully alongside him. My intention wasn't to pass him in that corner, I was trying to stay there … I thought he'd seen me enough that he would have missed the apex, and then I could get him on the exit on better tyres when he went wide. It was just an unfortunate outcome.

"My reaction was I was told the penalty was silence, I was pretty pissed! More because I was in that situation. It was ambitious, maybe a little impatient, but it was a shame the one good race I was having had this situation in it. When (race engineer) Tom (Stallard) told me, I didn't respond – I was thinking 'the one chance we have …'. I still had speed, but I thought the soft (tyres) were going to drop off pretty quickly – to pull 10 seconds of a gap, I had zero faith that was going to happen. But the pace was still there, and I turned that anger into a bit of fire and just got on with it. So that was really fun! It was nice to push and feel the grip, it was nice to attack. When I put the soft on and felt the grip, I just wanted to use it, I wasn't going to save anything, and I just tried to get through the field when the tyre was good. If it fell away after that, then so be it.

"The first stint – it's such a low-grip track that you always feel you're driving it like a five out of 10, from an effort and energy standpoint. I was just doing what I could to maintain, and I felt like the guys in front, especially (Fernando) Alonso, had a bit more pace on the medium. I felt like I was doing enough to keep them within reach so if I could split the strategy, I'd have a chance to attack later. So that worked well!

"You need short-term memory in this sport, so after how Austin went … on Wednesday in Mexico I had a spring back in my step. I enjoy days like Sunday and wish there were more of them, but I just take days like Mexico for what they are these days and not overthink them. I know I can still race, and I know I can still drive. Just happy to lean on the car and show a bit of pace, that's not something I feel like I've been able to do.

"Brazil next – a sprint race is good and keeps the weekend a bit more exciting. I don't love the circuit, and have no idea how we'll go. Hopefully there's another good race for me in store … having back-to-back good races would be nice, because I've not really had that."

How Daniel's race unfolded
* Started 11th, finished first lap in 13th after being passed by Tsunoda/AlphaTauri and Zhou/Alfa Romeo.
* Re-passed Zhou on Lap 9, up to 12th.
* Up to 10th on Lap 29 after Leclerc/Ferrari and Tsunoda pitted.
* Pitted from 8th on Lap 44, second-last driver to pit (only Zhou ran longer opening stint, by one lap), re-joined 13th on soft tyres.
* Clashed with Tsunoda at Turn 6 on Lap 50 when fighting for 11th place, issued 10-second time penalty for being deemed to have caused a collision.
* Passed Norris/McLaren on Lap 55 for 10th.
* Passed Bottas/Alfa Romeo on Lap 57 for ninth.
* Passed Alonso/Alpine on Lap 60 for eighth.
* Passed Ocon/Alpine on Lap 61 for seventh.
* Finished seventh after 70 laps, one lap down on race-winner Verstappen/Red Bull, 2.2secs ahead of Ocon after 10-second penalty applied.

Next race
Round 21: Brazil (Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace), 13 November
Last race (2021): qualified 11th, did not finish
Career: 10 races, 33 points, 5 points finishes
Best finish: 4th (2018)
Brazil highlights: Strong results have typically eluded Daniel at Interlagos, as it's only here, Bahrain and Australia where he's never stepped onto the podium of the tracks where he's had double-figure F1 starts. He's not made Q3 in Brazil since 2016, but three of his past four visits to Sao Paulo have ended with points finishes. Easily his best showing came in 2018 for Red Bull Racing, where he was just four-tenths of a second behind Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) for the final spot on the podium after 71 laps.