Aussie driver Daniel Ricciardo was left shattered after another tough Formula One result.
At the Styrian Grand Prix, Ricciardo's McLaren started 13th on the grid and rapidly edged his way up to P9, only for it to fall apart.
In the opening lap he overtook Yuki Tsunoda, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz to gewhats next ofe rankf tht into ninth, but a technical issue with his car quickly saw him slide back.
Tsunoda, Sainz, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen all overtook him as he vented his frustration about "low power" on the McLaren radio.
"It was such a unlucky race, really. We went from 13th to eight," Ricciardo said after the race.
"It was an awesome start, awesome first lap and put us in such a strong position ahead of a lot of our quicker rivals.
"We were sitting pretty and all of a sudden I lost power so every position and more that I gained I basically just waved them on through.
"We were able to fix it on track. It was a control issue so were able to get it but then it was too late.
"And then I'm back in the mess that I did well to get out of on the first lap.
"Then you're in traffic and you're in a train and then honestly the race is over after that."
Ricciardo's pit stop on lap 43 saw more pass him, putting him back to 15th, before he clawed his way back to finish 13th, his worst result of the year, leaving him without drivers' championship points for just the second time.
"I'm not in the best spirits to be honest," a dejected Ricciardo told fans on Twitter.
"It was a pretty tough weekend and the day. It was looking good, and we had some issues which undid all the work from lap one and a few overtakes and from that point on we were in the train and couldn't progress I think it could have been a much different day, but would have's, could have's, it's the bitter part of the sport."
https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/1409219981351395331Ricciardo described the result as "heartbreaking" as a technical issue cost him dearly once more.
"It hasn't [happened before]. I don't know exactly what it is yet," Ricciardo said of the power issue.
"I know a lot of cars were looking for clear air to get some cooling so it could have been temperature-related. If I was to have a wild guess right now I would say that but I'm honestly not sure.
"I mean it's obviously heartbreaking for me and disheartening but I'm not the only one that feels this pain."
"It's disheartening for sure. Out of our control for sure," Ricciardo added.
"I look at positions - I was ahead of Sainz on the same strategy and he finished sixth so I think we could have been sixth today.
"It was painful to see all the work undone when you're trying to fix it and everyone's just going past you.
"The weekend went from bad worse and I look forward to getting out of here and coming back next week with a fresh approach."
McLaren team boss was apologetic to Ricciardo, as his teammate Lando Norris was able to finish fifth.
"Daniel had a great start from P13 to P9 in the early stages, but then a temporary loss of power meant four cars overtook him, which pretty much ended his race. Daniel, sorry for that," Andreas Seidl, McLaren Team Prinicipal, said.
https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/1409225266287677440F1 commentators warned that the constant setbacks at McLaren for Ricciardo would be taking its toll mentally.
"He's smiling and keeping going but I think in his head, it's denting," Sky Sports F1 commentator Paul Di Resta said.
"I guess the worrying thing for Daniel was the impact that Charles Leclerc (P7) was able to make from having that first lap incident to challenging through.
"You have to have a good car but Daniel got stuck after he had that issue and wasn't able to make an impact and the car clearly had speed.
"It's always nice to come back to a track the next week and see how you can go, but if he has another performance like he had this weekend, that's another dent [to his confidence] and it really is hard.
"His style needs to be adaptable, it needs to be able to change because clearly whatever he's doing at the moment is not working and not in love with that McLaren.
"That's quite a hard thing to unlock [the car's potential] if you need confidence in a different way from a car and you can see that's what's hurting him."
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1409182735915053056Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has won half of the races this Formula One season. And if that wasn't worrying enough for his rivals, his car keeps getting faster and faster.
The championship leader dominated the Styrian Grand Prix on Sunday to win back-to-back races for the first time in his career.
Leading from start to finish, it was "super nice to drive," the Dutchman said. "I could keep my pace consistent to the end. The balance of the car was the best so far this season."
Verstappen has won three of the last four races, and only a tire issue when leading in Azerbaijan prevented him from making it four.
With a clean start from pole in Sunday's race, the Red Bull driver denied Lewis Hamilton an early attack and he remained ahead for the entire race, beating his Mercedes rival by more than 35 seconds.
Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas finished third ahead of Sergio Perez as Red Bull and Mercedes occupied the top four places for the second consecutive time.
"The car was on fire," Verstappen said over the team radio after crossing the finish line.
Verstappen won a few tenths from Hamilton in most of the laps and was already more than three seconds ahead of Hamilton after 10 laps.
"Straight away I felt good balance in the car," he said. "It was good to manage the tires basically from the start. We just kept on going, trying to hit our lap times and that worked really well today."
It was Verstappen's 14th career win and fourth of the season, increasing his lead over the seven-time world champion in the drivers' standings to 18 points after eight races. A race win is worth 25 points.
With Red Bull gaining more momentum over Mercedes in every race, Hamilton is gradually losing sight of his record eighth title this season.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1409179464282509312That, however, was not on the Briton's mind after eight of 23 races.
"I try not to concern myself with that. Naturally, they are faster so there is not a lot I can do in that respect," Hamilton said.
Losing 0.25 seconds on Verstappen on the straights left Hamilton with few options. He pushed and reduced the deficit on some laps, but then had to be more cautious on others to protect his tires from overheating.
Left with no chance to overtake Verstappen, Hamilton pitted again in the penultimate lap and successfully beat the fastest lap time held by Perez at that time, earning him a bonus point though the deficit to Verstappen grew to over half a minute.
"It was a bit of a lonely race, really. I was trying to keep up with those guys but the speed they have... They obviously made some big improvements over the last couple of races," Hamilton said. "It was impossible to keep up. I don't know where we are losing all this time."
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1409216709718732800Bottas had the second fastest time in qualifying but started the race from fifth following a three-place grid penalty for spinning in the pitlane during Friday's practice.
"From where I started this was the maximum today. Bit of damage limitation," said the Finn after holding off a late challenge from Perez for third place.
Red Bull squandered a potential 1-3 finish with a slow pit stop for Perez, which lasted for nearly five seconds due to an issue with the left-rear tire.
Racing on its home track in the Austrian Alps, Red Bull stretched its winning streak to four races, as Hamilton's wait for his 99th career victory reached the seven-week mark.
The last time Hamilton went without a win in four straight races came more than three years ago, spanning the last three races of 2017 and the first three of the following season.
The top four went more than a full lap ahead of the rest of the field, led by McLaren's Lando Norris in front of both Ferraris.
In a tumultuous start to the race for the midpack runners, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly touched in heavy traffic, which forced Leclerc to pit right away to repair damage to his front wing, while Gasly went out of the race with damage to his rear-right tyre.
Leclerc managed to work his way back to seventh place, just behind teammate Carlos Sainz.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1409170058765651970Gasly's teammate Yuki Tsunoda still scored a point for Alpha Tauri in 10th, finishing behind Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Alpine's Fernando Alonso in eighth and ninth, respectively.
Williams driver George Russell, who is a candidate for Mercedes from 2022 if Bottas were to leave the team, had to retire after two-thirds of the race with a power-unit issue.
The Austrian GP on the same track is scheduled for next Sunday.
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