RB drivers both delighted as they leave Miami with points in the bag

RB have extended their lead over Haas in the battle for sixth in the constructors’ championship thanks to Yuki Tsunoda’s seventh-placed finish in Miami, which coupled with Daniel Ricciardo’s points from the Sprint have put RB into a very healthy position in the midfield fight.

While Ricciardo’s Grand Prix didn’t go as well as the Sprint, the Aussie struggling after starting last, he at least could reflect on a second positive weekend after finally showing some decent pace in China last time out. Although he didn’t score in Shanghai, his points from the Miami Sprint very much lifted his spirits – despite a 15th place finish on Sunday.

“I think entering the race you always have some optimism, and based on the pace we had in the Sprint, like okay we can charge through the pack today but yeah it’s a very different race for us when we are in traffic and all of that, it’s much harder for us to use our pace,” reflected the Australian afterwards.

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“It’s simple, we just can’t qualify at the back, that’s where we make it difficult for ourselves. Obviously complete contrast, great qualifying Friday and a great race, bad qualifying and a bad race. Nothing more than that, we know the strengths of our car when we can show them but also the weaknesses. But obviously a lot of that is on me as well to qualify better.”

Ricciardo started last thanks to a three-place grid drop earned in China, but was running in P10 at one point after a long first stint. But he came in for fresh tyres just before the Safety Car, and thus couldn’t benefit from a free pit stop to jump ahead of his rivals.

P15 might not look good on paper for the under pressure RB driver, but he still feels he is heading in the right direction after a tricky start to the season.

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“It shows just as quickly as you can have a good race, you can have a bad race,” he continued. “Of course, I want to say so much more but you have to keep backing it up. I still leave here very happy – happy and proud.

“I know what I can do, but equally because I know what I can do it’s frustrating when you have sessions like I had yesterday afternoon. Although I wasn’t happy with that set of tyres, I still have to look at myself and take some accountability. At this level you have to be perfect and, when you are, things can look pretty spectacular.”

As for Tsunoda, his continued consistent form remains a boost for the team as he scored points for a second day in a row, and for his third race in the last four. Having also made Q3 in four out of the six race weekends so far this season, the Japanese racer has done enough to move ahead of Lance Stroll into 10th in the drivers’ standings.

“Very happy, what a great job by the team,” he said afterwards. “It’s been an incredible week in which we scored in both races. We kind of expected we would have a good performance here but the most important thing is that we achieved it.

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“As a team, we stuck to our plan and didn’t make any mistakes today. As for me, overall, I’m happy with my driving even though I made a mistake at the start. I reset myself and kept going, and especially in the last stint where I was just driving by myself, I was pushing and able to achieve similar lap times to the cars in front.

“The next race in Imola is kind of another home race for me, so I hope we’ll be able to continue our rhythm and achieve a good result in front of our home crowd.”