RB: Tsunoda/Ricciardo Bahrain F1 “mess” could have been avoided via strategy
The Italian outfit went into the race knowing that Ricciardo would probably be on a more favourable set of new soft tyres in the closing stages, and that there could be a scenario where he found himself behind Tsunoda on hards. That’s exactly what transpired, and Tsunoda expressed his displeasure when asked to move over and give Ricciardo a shot at passing Kevin Magnussen up ahead. In the end Ricciardo couldn’t make any further progress, and they finished 13th and 14th, with the Australian still ahead. Bayer says that the team felt that it had a sniff of the points after a first-lap collision between Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll compromised the latter, and could have managed to situation more effectively. “We knew that in terms of pace, if you're looking at the top five teams, if they deliver, for anyone else, it's going to be very, very difficult,” Bayer told Motorsport.com. “For us there was a window that opened with Stroll and Hulken...