Daniel Ricciardo moved from Red Bull to Renault for 2019. It took a while for the Australian to adjust to the change, but he found his stride before the end of the year. Here are all the facts and statistics from Ricciardo’s 2019 season!
On the face of it, Daniel Ricciardo finished ninth in the Drivers’ Championship with his worst result since his final year at Toro Rosso in 2013.Despite that, Ricciardo remains adamant that moving away from Red Bull to Renault was the best choice for his career.
Ricciardo had a frustrating start to the season. After driving over his front wing just metres into his Renault debut at his home race and subsequently retiring, he retired again in Bahrain with an electronics failure. He opened his points balance in China with a seventh place finish, but that would be one of only four times that he picked up points in the opening half of the season. He himself said that it took a while to adjust to life at Renault, but he seemed to have settled in by the end of the year.
Ricciardo scored Renault’s best result of the season – and the works team’s best result since 2010 – with fourth place at the Italian Grand Prix. He had a strong run of form at the end of the year too, scoring three sixth place results in four races – at least he would have done, had Renault not been disqualified from the Japanese Grand Prix.
Ahead of the season, Nico Hulkenberg had a reputation for out-qualifying team-mates, but of the 63 qualifying sectors in 2019, Ricciardo was faster in 45. This was perhaps just one of the factors that led to Hulkenberg losing his seat, and Ricciardo having a new challenge in the form of Esteban Ocon alongside him in 2020. Ricciardo will be hoping the team can make strides forward next season.
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RACE STATISTICS
- Championship Position: 9
- Total Points: 54
- % of teams’ points scored: 59%
- Points Scoring Races: 8
- Best finish: 4th (Italy)
- Number of DNFs: 5
- Laps Led: 0
- Laps Complete: 1120 (18th)
- % of Laps Complete: 88.75%
- Distance Covered: 5637.49km
- Races gained positions in: 7
- Races lost positions in: 5
- Finished where started: 3
- Total positions gained on first laps: -20
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QUALIFYING STATISTICS
- Q3 Appearances: 12
- Q2 Exits: 7
- Q1 Exits: 2
- Best Qualifying Position: 4th (Canada)
- Worst Qualifying Position: 18th (Hungary)
- Average Qualifying Position: 10
- Average Grid Position: 10.62
- Average Gap to own potential qualifying pace: 0.061
- Achieved own ultimate pace: 4
- Beat team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: 45 / 63
- Average gap to team-mate per sector in qualifying: -0.049
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A STATISTIC FROM EVERY GRAND PRIX
Australia: After running over his own front wing on the run to the first corner, Daniel Ricciardo retired from his home event for the third time. He was out-qualified by his team-mate at Albert Park for a third season in a row.
Bahrain: Daniel Ricciardo recorded a second consecutive retirement – both at the Bahrain Grand Prix and in the 2019 season. It was the first time since 2014 that the Australian scored no points in the opening two races of the year.
China: With his first points of the 2019 season, and his first points for Renault, at the Chinese Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo became the 98th driver to have scored points for three different teams in Formula 1.
Azerbaijan: At the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo retired for the third time in four races, and for a second consecutive time in Baku. He also lost his 100% Q3 appearance record at the track.
Spain: In 2019, Daniel Ricciardo maintained his 100% finish record at the Spanish Grand Prix, but failed to score at the event for the first time since 2012.
Monaco: Daniel Ricciardo finished and qualified outside of the top five at the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time since 2013. Aside from his DNFs in 2012 and 2013, this marked his lowest finishing position at the circuit.
Canada: With his sixth place finish at the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo became the eleventh driver in F1 history to surpass 1,000 career points. With fourth on the grid, he also recorded Renault’s best qualifying result since Robert Kubica qualified in the same position at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix.
France: In the 2019 French Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo finished eleventh for the first time since the 2016 Russian Grand Prix. The 2019 Spanish Grand Prix, where he finished twelfth, was the only other time that the Australian had finished without scoring points since the 2016 Sochi race.
Austria: 2019 marked the first time that Daniel Ricciardo has failed to score in an Austrian Grand Prix where he’s seen the chequered flag. It was his second consecutive point-less visit to the track, having retired from the event in 2018.
Britain: Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg at the 2019 British Grand Prix. It was the first time Ricciardo has out-qualified a team-mate at the British Grand Prix since 2014 and the first time Hulkenberg has been out-qualified at the track since 2010.
Germany: For a second consecutive year, Daniel Ricciardo was eliminated in Q2 and failed to finish at the German Grand Prix.
Hungary: At the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo recorded his first Q1 elimination since the 2017 British Grand Prix. After his grid penalty, Ricciardo lined up 20th on the grid. It was his furthest back grid slot since he started 21st at the 2012 Korean Grand Prix.
Belgium: Daniel Ricciardo recorded a third consecutive point-less finish at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix. It was his longest streak of non-scoring rounds since driving for Toro Rosso at the 2013 Singapore, Korean and Japanese Grands Prix.
Italy: Renault enjoyed a successful weekend at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, with Daniel Ricciardo being their top finisher in fourth place. It was Ricciardo’s first top five finish since leaving Red Bull.
Singapore: In 2019, for the first time since 2013, Daniel Ricciardo failed to score at the Singapore Grand Prix. He and Sergio Perez became the seventh and eighth drivers to have seen the chequered flag in eight races at the Marina Bay Circuit.
Russia: Daniel Ricciardo recorded his fifth retirement of the 2019 season and his third DNF at the Russian Grand Prix. Ricciardo’s failure to finish from tenth on the grid and Kubica’s failure to finish from eighteenth on the grid marked the first DNF for drivers starting from those grid slots at the Sochi Autodrom. Along with Romain Grosjean, Ricciardo became the first driver to reach three DNFs at the Russian Grand Prix.
Japan: At the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo recorded his second Q1 exit at Suzuka and his second Q1 exit of the 2019 season. Ricciardo fought back to sixth in the race, but both Renault drivers were disqualified from the result. It marked the second DSQ of Ricciardo’s F1 career, his first since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix.
Mexico: For the first time in his five appearances at the Mexico Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo failed to qualify in the top ten. The 2018 polesitter could manage only thirteenth in 2019.
United States: Two drivers equalled Daniel Ricciardo’s career stats at the 2019 United States Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas equalled his win tally, while Max Verstappen equalled his podium tally.
Brazil: With a second consecutive sixth place finish, Daniel Ricciardo made 2019 the fourth successive year in which he has scored a point at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Abu Dhabi: After out-qualifying Nico Hulkenberg by 0.254 seconds at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo remains unbeaten by a team-mate in qualifying in all of his nine appearances at the Yas Marina Circuit.
