Daniel Ricciardo relishes Michael Schumacher battle

Daniel Ricciardo has relished his battle with Michael Schumacher during the closing stages of the Japanese Grand Prix, in which the Australian driver was able to defend against the seven-time World Champion’s onslaught. With the assistance of KERS, Ricciardo remained in 10th and was able to bring home one point for Toro Rosso.

After running as high as 5th throughout the race, Daniel Ricciardo was able to fend off the much quicker Mercedes of Michael Schumacher during the final stages of the 53-lap race. The German had started the race from 23rd on the grid after incurring a 10-place grid penalty due to his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne at Singapore. Daniel Ricciardo started from 14th, but after the first lap carnage including Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg, the Australian driver was able to benefit greatly and enjoy a relatively competitive remainder of the race.

“It was an eventful race.” Enthused Daniel Ricciardo, after finishing 10th. “The last two stints were good, at first having a battle with Webber who was on a different strategy. Then right at the end, I was holding off Michael and I was really pleased to have won that battle. It’s always tougher when you are the slower car in a duel, but with good advice from the pit wall on how to use the KERS to defend in the DRS zone, I managed it. It’s not every day you have a seven times World Champion on your tail and given he only has a few more races, it was nice to have a battle with him to put in my scrapbook!”

This was Daniel Ricciardo’s second points finish in succession, after finishing the Singapore Grand Prix last time out in 9th. After a difficult start to the season for the Faenza-based outfit, Toro Rosso have finally begun scoring points on a regular basis, as the F1 circus heads to Korea next weekend.

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