China: Safety car shunt stops Daniel’s progress
Damage through no fault of his own for Daniel ahead of a mid-race safety car restart in Shanghai undoes a weekend of promise and results in a second straight DNF
Race data
China (Round 5 of 24), 19-21 April, 2024
Shanghai International Circuit, 5.451km, 58 laps
Sprint qualifying: 14th
Sprint race (19 laps): 11th
Qualified: 12th
Grand Prix (56 laps): DNF (accident damage, lap 33)
Laps per position: 7th (2 laps), 9th (8 laps), 10th (4 laps), 11th (1 lap), 12th (3 laps), 13th (1 lap), 14th (2 laps), 15th (8 laps), 16th (1 lap), 17th (1 lap), 18th (2 laps)
Pit stops/tyres: Lap 14 (medium/medium)
Fastest lap: 1min 40.994secs (16th), lap 16
Points this event: 0
Points this season: 0 (18th in world championship)
Daniel's download
“China … look, what happened is even more disappointing for us as a team, in the garage everyone feels it’s another blow to the start of the season. But 48 hours from now when this disappointment starts to fade, we’ll look back on a positive weekend. And it definitely was positive.
“The whole weekend felt more … normal, I’d say. It felt like we’re in a better place and things came a bit more seamlessly, so that’s obviously encouraging. Yes, I had a new chassis here but I think it’s too early to say ‘yeah, it was definitely that’. We need to prove that over a few more races.
“The incident in the race … I mean, it's so frustrating. Obviously, racing incidents happen, but behind a safety car, that should never happen.
“It’s a restart, so we don’t know what the leader is going to do. You have to be as vigilant as ever, be prepared for any situation. I could see it was bunching up into the hairpin, everyone’s backing up, but then with how hard [Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll] hit me and pretty much put half his car under mine … it wasn’t a small lack of judgement, he was miles off. For that, for me, there’s no excuse.
"What made my blood boil is I watched his onboard [camera], to just see it from his perspective. He’s not even looking at me, you see his helmet and he’s looking [right] at the apex of the corner. I don’t know why he’s not looking at the car in front … it looks like he wasn’t looking at me and I think it shows with how hard he hit me. He was clearly focused on something else.
“We've all made mistakes. I've done it, we all have. As long as he understands that he was the one that's ruined not only his race but mine, that's the biggest thing we can take away.”
DR’s race recap
* Qualified 14th and finished 11th in Saturday’s 19-lap Sprint race.
* Qualified 12th for the Grand Prix, missing Q3 by 0.165secs.
* Dropped places to Ocon/Alpine, Albon/Williams and Gasly/Alpine on lap 1, ending it in 15th place.
* Advanced to 14th on lap 8 when Hulkenberg/Haas pitted.
* Jumped to 10th on lap 10 when Ocon, Albon, Bottas/Sauber and Stroll/Aston Martin pitted.
* Pitted on lap 14 for medium tyres, rejoined in 18th place.
* Passed RB teammate Tsunoda on lap 19 to advance to 14th.
* Rose to ninth under safety car conditions on lap 24.
* Hit by Stroll at Turn 14 ahead of lap 26 restart, dropped to 10th.
* Fell to 12th on lap 32 after second safety car restart with damage.
* Retired from the race on lap 33.
DR’s next destination
Round 6: Miami (Miami International Autodrome), 5 May
Miami in 2022 (most recent race): qualified 14th, finished 13th
In F1: 1 race, 0 points
Best finish: 13th (2022)
