Ricciardo close to LOSING famous F1 win

One of Daniel Ricciardo's most impressive career victories has been recalled during a reflection of Red Bull's performance issues.

The Aussie racer competed in Formula 1 between 2011 and 2024 but was dropped midway through the season last year by Red Bull's junior outfit VCARB.

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Having gotten his start in the pinnacle of motorsport with the Red Bull family, Ricciardo dipped in and out of the ranks of Christian Horner's team throughout his career.

His most successful run took place at Red Bull between 2014 and 2018, after Ricciardo replaced fellow countryman Mark Webber to partner Sebastian Vettel. before then racing alongside both Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen before his shock departure.

After Verstappen was promoted to the main team alongside Ricciardo, the Aussie star struggled with accepting his place as the team's second driver, opting to switch to Renault for the 2019 season.

After failing to secure any further race wins at the outfit, Ricciardo once again chose to change teams, moving to McLaren where he eventually earned his eighth and final career victory at the 2021 Italian GP.

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Red Bull star reveals unbelievable Ricciardo comeback

The eight-time grand prix winner secured seven of his race wins whilst with Red Bull and following what appears to be a permanent exit from the sport last year, a team insider has revealed how Ricciardo came close to being pulled out of one of his most impressive races altogether.

In a recent appearance on the High Performance podcast with Jake Humphrey, Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas was asked to share a moment when he and his Red Bull team had to deliver against the odds.

"The one that always will stand out for me is Daniel Ricciardo in 2018 in China," Nicholas recalled.

"We knew we weren't in a good shape with spare engines and then low and behold, there’s that thing in F1 that if something can go wrong, it will."

"We were in a position in P3 where the spare engines were not ready, they were nowhere near ready for other reasons but it was inevitable that that engine would fail in P3 and then we knew we’d have this massive issue trying to get that car out for qualifying."

"Ultimately we managed it, we got the car out with like a minute to spare."

Thanks to the hard work of Nicholas and his team in the Red Bull garage, Ricciardo made it through to qualifying in China, lining up on the grid in P6 ahead of a highly impressive overtaking masterclass which led to an infamous storm to victory.

After 37 laps of racing in sixth position, Ricciardo stormed through the pack to pass Kimi Raikkonen, team-mate Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas to earn his sixth GP win.

Following the astonishing performance, Ricciardo delivered what has become an iconic catchphrase, discussing his overtake on Hamilton with F1 pundit Martin Brundle, saying: "Sometimes you've just got to lick the stamp and send it."

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