Daniel Ricciardo recorded two podium finishes on his way to fifth in the championship in his last year with Renault. Here are the facts and statistics from Ricciardo’s 2020 F1 season!
Compared to 2019, 2020 was a much more consistent year for Daniel Ricciardo. While things didn’t get off to a great start, his retirement in the Austrian Grand Prix would be his only non-finish of the season and he’d go on to score points in all but two of the remaining sixteen races. The highlights were his two podium finishes – both third places at the Nurburgring and Imola – Renault’s first podiums in almost a decade. His strong year culminated in eleven successive top ten results, with only four of those being lower than sixth place finishes.
The Styrian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix were the only races at which Ricciardo was out-qualified by team-mate Esteban Ocon in 2020. On average, Ricciardo was fastest of the Renault pair by one tenth per sector.
Ricciardo announced his intention to leave Renault before the delayed 2020 season began. He will replace Carlos Sainz at McLaren, partnering Lando Norris. Given his results this year, and McLaren’s upward trajectory, Ricciardo could well be one of the stars of 2021.
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QUALIFYING STATISTICS
- Championship Position: 5th
- Total Points: 119
- % of teams’ points scored: 66%
- Points Scoring Races: 14
- Best finish: 3rd (x2)
- Number of starts: 17
- Number of non-finishes: 1
- Number of finishes: 16
- Laps Led: 0
- Laps Complete: 979
- % of Laps Complete: 94.41%
- Distance Covered: 4978.616km
- Laps Raced in the Top 10: 849
- Laps Raced in the Top 5: 328
- Laps Raced in the Top 3: 64
- Races gained positions in: 10
- Races lost positions in: 3
- Finished where started: 3
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QUALIFYING STATISTICS
- Q3 Appearances: 14
- Q2 Exits: 3
- Q1 Exits: 0
- Best Qualifying Position: 4th (Belgium)
- Worst Qualifying Position: 13th (Spain)
- Average Qualifying Position: 7.71
- Average Grid Position: 7.59
- Average Gap to own potential qualifying pace: +0.089s
- Achieved own ultimate pace: 4
- Beat team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: 24
- Beaten by team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: 17
- Average gap to team-mate per sector in qualifying: -0.101s
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A STATISTIC FROM EVERY GRAND PRIX
Austria: In the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo recorded his second retirement at the Red Bull Ring. It was also the second consecutive year in which Ricciardo retired from the first race of the season.
Styria: Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, while his team-mate Esteban Ocon failed to finish. That was the reverse of Renault’s result at the Austrian Grand Prix, where Ocon finished eighth and Ricciardo retired.
Hungary: Daniel Ricciardo’s eighth place at the Hungarian Grand Prix marked the best result for a Renault driver at the Hungarian Grand Prix since Vitaly Petrov finished fifth in the 2010 event. By scoring four points, Ricciardo overtook Mark Webber as Formula 1’s top-scoring Australian driver.
Britain: With fourth place at the 2020 British Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo equalled his best result at Renault. He also finished fourth in the 2019 Italian Grand Prix. It was the team’s fifth top five finish since their return to the sport in 2016.
70th Anniversary: Finishing in fourteenth place, Daniel Ricciardo failed to score at Silverstone for the first time since his retirement from the 2015 British Grand Prix.
Spain: Daniel Ricciardo qualified outside of the top ten at the Spanish Grand Prix for the first time since he was at Toro Rosso in 2013. Thirteenth was the Australian’s worst qualifying position of the season to date.
Belgium: On the final lap of the Belgian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo set the Fastest Lap, becoming the first Renault driver to record the fastest lap of a race since Robert Kubica at the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. With fourth place and the additional point for fastest lap, Ricciardo scored the most points for a Renault driver at a single race since Nick Heidfeld finished third at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.
Italy: Finishing in sixth place, Daniel Ricciardo made the 2020 Italian Grand Prix the 300th Formula 1 race in which an Australian driver scored. Australia is the seventh nation to reach the milestone.
Tuscany: Daniel Ricciardo finished in fourth place at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, equalling his best result since leaving Red Bull. The Australian also finished fourth for Renault at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, the 2020 British Grand Prix and the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix.
Russia: After recording Renault’s best Russian Grand Prix qualifying result, Daniel Ricciardo went on to finish the 2020 Russian Grand Prix in fifth place. It was both his and the team’s best ever result at Sochi Autodrom.
Eifel: Daniel Ricciardo recorded the 30th podium finish of his career at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, and his first podium finish since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. He’s the 35th different driver to have recorded thirty podium finishes, equalling Juan Pablo Montoya’s tally of career podiums. Ricciardo became the first Renault driver to finish on the podium since Nick Heidfeld at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix. It was the Enstone team’s first podium since Romain Grosjean finished third at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix.
Portugal: Daniel Ricciardo reached Q3 at the Portuguese Grand Prix but failed to set a lap time due to damaging his rear wing at the end of Q2. As a result, he qualified in tenth place, marking the first time he had qualified outside of the top eight since the Spanish Grand Prix.
Emilia Romagna: Daniel Ricciardo finished in third place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, becoming the first Australian to finish on the podium at Imola and the first non-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull driver to record two podium finishes in a season since Sergio Perez in 2016. Ricciardo now has 31 podium finishes, equalling his fellow Australian Jack Brabham’s career tally of podiums. Mark Webber is the only Australian with more podiums than Ricciardo.
Turkey: Daniel Ricciardo qualified in fifth position for the second race in a row. It was the Enstone team’s best qualifying result at the Turkish Grand Prix since Fernando Alonso qualified third for Renault in 2006.
Bahrain: On his ninth Bahrain Grand Prix appearance, Daniel Ricciardo maintained his record of never being out-qualified by a team-mate at the event. Ricciardo scored for a ninth consecutive race, making it his longest streak of points-scoring events since the end of the 2016 season.
Sakhir: Daniel Ricciardo qualified in seventh place for the Sakhir Grand Prix. In ten appearances at the Bahrain International Circuit, Ricciardo is still yet to be out-qualified by a team-mate at the venue. Ricciardo finished the race in fifth place. With Esteban Ocon on the podium, this was the third team that Ricciardo’s team-mate has finished ahead of him in a race they have both finished in 2020.
Abu Dhabi: At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo failed to reach Q3 for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix, ending a ten-race streak of top ten qualifications. It was also the first time he did not reach Q3 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2012, and the first time in ten appearances at the circuit that he was out-qualified by a team-mate. In the race, Ricciardo set the Fastest Lap for the fifteenth time in his career. This was the eleventh consecutive race in which Ricciardo has scored, which is his longest streak since scoring in all of the last seventeen races of the 2016 season.