Daniel Ricciardo says he “genuinely thought” Red Bull was in with a chance of victory in the early stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix, before slipping back later in the race.
The Australian fell to fifth behind his team-mate Max Verstappen on the opening lap, but moved up to third through the pit stops, behind only Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.
However, Ricciardo lost positions at the restart to Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, before eventually getting back ahead of the Brazilian to take fifth.
“For me it was a race of two halves really,” he said. “At the beginning of the race I genuinely thought we had a chance to win.
“That stint was looking very competitive and I could see Valtteri was struggling. I was at the tail end of the front pack and I could see everyone else in front of me.
“They were sliding and looked like they were struggling more. It was quite easy for me to stay there and I was looking after my tyres, so at that point I was thinking it could be on, not only for a podium but for a win.
“The safety car worked for me in that we jumped up to third but it wasn’t so good for our tyres and that’s where we lost a lot of ground.
“Even once we settled into a pace and the chaos settled we fell back and I was struggling with grip at the front and rear. We never really got that tyre working for us.”
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