RB F1 Faces 'Painful' Double Retirement in China

After a series of misfortunes at the Chinese Grand Prix, RB F1’s hopes were dashed by other drivers’ errors.

RB F1 recorded a double retirement at the Chinese Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo was hit by Lance Stroll, and Yuki Tsunoda was clipped by Kevin Magnussen. Laurent Mekies, the team director, admits significant frustration.

“It’s a disappointing Sunday for us with both cars eliminated from the race in separate incidents over which our drivers had no control. It’s painful, but we have no choice but to accept it and move on,” the Frenchman stated.

“On a positive note, even though the weekend started slowly, everyone worked very hard to regain enough pace to again fight for 10th place.”

“Daniel performed very well all weekend, especially in the race, battling with Hamilton just before the safety car came out.”

“This weekend was more challenging for Yuki. It’s always tough to drive for the first time on a circuit during a sprint weekend, but he fought and had a good race where he made up many positions.”

“We will regroup with Daniel, Yuki, and the entire team in Faenza and Bicester to analyze the weekend together and come back stronger in Miami for another tightly contested battle and, hopefully, a less frustrating Sunday!”

Different strategies ruined by accidents

Claudio Balestri, the chief vehicle performance engineer, explains the team’s strategy before the on-track incidents: “For the race, we decided to split the two cars on different strategies, starting Daniel on medium tires and Yuki on soft tires.”

“For Daniel, he lost some positions at the start while Yuki was able to gain some. At the end of the first lap, Daniel was 15th and Yuki 16th, and considering we were far from the points, we decided to bring Yuki in for an early pit stop, aiming to undercut others and switch to a new set of medium tires.”

“With Daniel, we decided to stay out and do a longer first stint, stopping him on lap 14. The degradation was a bit higher than expected on all compounds and when Bottas stopped his car on the track, it triggered a virtual safety car, followed by a full safety car.”

“Almost all the cars went into the pits to try and make it to the end, including Yuki. Unfortunately, just before the restart, Stroll hit the back of Daniel and severely damaged his car, and right after the restart, Magnussen hit Yuki, damaging his right rear tire.”

“In the end, both cars were out of the race. This Sunday wasn’t our day, but we are focusing on the next race in Miami, where we want to fight for points.”