Emilia-Romagna: Start undoes Daniel’s day at Imola

Daniel’s efforts to make Q3 for the first time this season come undone just seconds into Sunday’s race, where a slow getaway dropped him outside the top 10 and led to a 13th-place finish.

Race data

Emilia-Romagna (Round 7 of 24), 17-19 May, 2024
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola), 4.909km, 63 laps
Qualified: 9th
Finished: 13th
Laps per position: 10th (1 lap), 11th (14 laps), 12th (19 laps), 13th (7 laps), 14th (2 laps), 15th (5 laps), 16th (14 laps)
Pit stops/tyres: Lap 11 (medium/hard)
Fastest lap: 1min 21.569secs (19th), lap 13
Points this event: 5
Points this season: 5 (14th in world championship)

Daniel's download

“Honestly from my side, nothing felt like it went wrong at the start. You always know if you botch the start with the way you drop the clutch, you’ve got a pretty good idea when it’s your fault. I didn’t feel like anything went wrong. It immediately drops us out of the points when you start like that, and then we’re in a train of cars that we feel, in clear air, that we’re quicker than. But once we’re there at their rhythm and at their pace in a bit of dirty air, it’s a weakness for us at the moment.

“When we had clear air, the pace was OK. But again, when you’re out of position, it’s tough. It was quite a boring race … I don’t want to be negative, but just stating some facts! It’s a great track, but Sundays aren’t very nice around here. It’s that balance where we respect the old-school circuits and as a Saturday experience they’re great, but as a Sunday experience, seeing a lot of drivers’ faces after the race, we’re all a little bit ‘that was a long one …”.

“In that midfield that we’re in, it’s obviously about small details. It starts with me, but then there’s little things like the start – if we work hard for the qualifying position, we need to consolidate that. If me and [RB teammate] Yuki [Tsunoda] took off and stayed in position in front of … [Haas’ Nico] Hulkenberg is the best example … I feel we could have stayed in front the whole race and probably gone a little bit better with the pack.

“I’m not saying we had the pace of the top-eight cars, but our race looks completely different. Small details make big differences, but we do have a decent package … it’s just those one-percenters.

“Now it’s time to reset for the quick turnaround for Monaco. It’s been a couple of years now that I’ve missed it, so I’m looking ahead and I’m excited to go back there next week.”

DR’s race recap

* Qualified ninth, making Q3 for the first time this season and continuing a perfect top-10 qualifying record in four visits to Imola.
* Dropped places to Hulkenberg/Haas and Perez/Red Bull at the start to end lap one in 11th place.
* Pitted on lap 11 from 13th place for hard tyres, dropped to 16th.
* Moved up to 14th on lap 33 when Sargeant/Williams pitted.
 * Up to 10th on lap 38 as rivals ahead pitted, dropped back to 11th after being passed by Perez on lap 39.
* Overtaken by Stroll/Aston Martin on lap 43, dropped to 12th.
* Passed by Magnussen/Haas on lap 62, fell to 13th.
* Finished 13th, one lap down on race-winner Verstappen/Red Bull, 1.2secs behind Magnussen in 12th, and 16secs ahead of Ocon/Alpine.

DR’s next destination

Round 8: Monaco (Circuit de Monaco), 26 May
Monaco in 2022 (most recent race): qualified 14th, finished 13th
In F1: 10 races, 1 win, 2 poles, 4 podiums, 1 fastest lap, 85 points, 6 points finishes
Best qualifying: Pole (2016, 2018)
Best finish: 1st (2018)