MONTREAL: Daniel Ricciardo said he was worrying about losing his wheels when he gave the ‘wall of champions’ a “pretty big kiss” during Saturday’s top-ten qualifying shootout for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The 26-year-old Australian said he felt his Red Bull touching the wall as he exited the final chicane and recalled the similar incident that resulted in a crash and elimination for Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
Ricciardo clipped the wall with both his front and rear wheels, just as Sainz had in his Toro Rosso, but he survived without serious damage and qualified fourth.
“It felt like a pretty big kiss actually!” said Ricciardo. “As soon as I hit it, I thought about what happened to Carlos in my head.
“I thought ‘just please keep the wheels on until the line and then they can fall off it they want’. In the end, I don’t think I lost that much to it.
“I think I carried so much speed into the corner that I gained in what I lost out by hitting the wall. It probably didn’t change the overall position.
“I took a pretty big hit yesterday, as well (in practice), and the car held up. We’ll see. It felt a bit buckled.
“The car wobbled a bit as I crossed the line. I’m sure the FIA will let us change parts if we need to if they look a bit worse for wear.”
After his glum exit from Monte Carlo after finishing a frustrated second in last month’s Monaco Grand Prix, Ricciardo was smiling again.
“Yeh, I’m pretty happy. This weekend has been steady and Ithink we’ve built it up.
“We got it all together and we’re pretty happy with fourth. We’re only three tenths from pole...”
As to his prospects of winning, he smiled. And said: “We’ve got an outside chance.” --AFP