Daniel Ricciardo secured the first DHL Fastest Lap of the season in Melbourne home race. The Red Bull driver burned a time of 1:25.945 into the asphalt. The Australian posted a time of 1:25.945 in the Australian Grand Prix and was thus considerably faster than race winner Sebastian Vettel and runner-up Lewis Hamilton.
After being handed a penalty in free practice, Ricciardo lined up in only eighth place but went on a strong charge up the field and ultimately just narrowly missed the podium in fourth place. The Australian scrapped with Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen for third place in the final stages of the race and went on to secure the DHL Fastest Lap. Räikkönen posted the second-fastest lap of the season opener with a time of 1:26.373.
“I’m happy with the way I drove today and we had a very fast race car. It’s not often I sit behind someone for most of the race but it’s a tight track and one of the more tricky ones for passing”, said Ricciardo. “There were a couple of times I had a look at turn three but Kimi was wise to that and could see what I was planning. Towards the end I applied more pressure on him but he was able to up the pace as well. I think we’re pretty close with Ferrari and our race pace is strong, which I thought would be the case, so we just need to get a few more tenths out of Qualifying and then we should be looking good. Being so close to the podium and getting fastest lap is definitely an encouraging way to start the season.”
Lewis Hamilton had held the fastest lap before the scrap between Ricciardo and Räikkönen but was ultimately relegated to third place in this particular discipline. The defending champion in the DHL Fastest Lap Award covered the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in a time of 1:26.444. Sebastian Vettel was a mere 25 hundredths slower than Hamilton, a result that the Ferrari driver was, no doubt, prepared to accept in view of his race win.
