2016 Daniel Ricciardo

ricciardo after winning 2016 malaysian grand prix.

in more competitive red bull, ricciardo began season well, finishing 4th in both australia , bahrain , qualifying 2nd , leading on in chinese grand prix before suffering tyre blowout , finishing in 4th again.

ricciardo qualified 3rd @ spanish grand prix, , after 2 mercedes cars of lewis hamilton , nico rosberg crashed out on first lap, led stages of race. after remarkable strategy call ferrari resulting in short 3rd stint sebastian vettel, red bull decided answer pitting ricciardo again , cover vettel, going presumed faster 3 stop strategy. dropped him behind vettel, new teammate max verstappen , kimi räikkönen on track, , after few failed attempts @ passing vettel, tyre blowout late on in race meant finished 4th again, behind eventual winner verstappen, , ferraris of räikkönen , vettel.

ricciardo scored first pole position @ monaco grand prix, , led wet stages of race. however, after long pitstop in team took 40 seconds ready set of tyres lost race lead lewis hamilton , finished race in 2nd. ricciardo notably upset after race result, saying: 2 weekends in row ve been screwed now. sucks. hurts.

ricciardo returned podium in hungary, finishing in 3rd, , in germany, finished 2nd. on podium in germany, ricciardo performed new celebration, drank champagne out of shoe. calls celebration shoey . repeated celebration @ belgian grand prix (where came 2nd again), time persuading podium interviewer mark webber drink shoe.

ricciardo qualified , finished 2nd @ singapore grand prix, after pushing eventual winner rosberg hard near end, late strategy change pushing him under half second behind @ finish line.

ricciardo qualified 4th @ malaysian grand prix moved 2nd turn 1, after collision between sebastian vettel , nico rosberg. took lead late on in race when leader lewis hamilton retired engine failure. after fighting red bull teammate verstappen, ricciardo took first victory of season. repeated shoey celebration on podium, , able team boss christian horner podium sharers verstappen , rosberg repeat celebration. ricciardo sealed 3rd in drivers championship following podium finish in mexico. other sergio pérez, driver have been classified in every race of 2016 season. in fact, save 2 races in ricciardo equalled last year s result, improved on every other race result 2015. remains contracted red bull 2017 season.