1 November 2022 09:40 (UTC)
Daniel and Lando on how they helped the team to two top 10 finishes at the Mexico City Grand Prix
Even with his visor down, you could tell the Honey Badger was beaming beneath his helmet at the end of Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix, and few watching on from home would have begrudged Daniel of his Driver of the Day tag.
Around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Daniel delivered a timely reminder of his quality, finishing four places up from where he had started the race after a late charge through the field to seventh.
"That was fun," he summarised on team radio during the cool-down lap, and his mood remained high long after he'd climbed out of the cockpit, with the Australian bouncing into the TV pen and reiterating the sentiment to F1TV.
“It’s so nice,” Daniel said to F1TV. “I wish there was an explanation why it hasn’t been like this more often, with races where I can lean on the car and put it where I want. There are only a few rounds left, but better late than never, and I am happy to have had an attacking race.
"Normally, if we’re in the points, we’re looking in the mirrors, so to come through the field felt good, and yeah, the team, I’m sure, feel happy as well and relieved after the penalty.”
Daniel's charge through the field came following a 10s-time penalty for causing a collision with Yuki Tsunoda.
After trading places with Lando on track, it took the Australian less than five laps to slalom his way through traffic and ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, leaving him with enough time to build up the required 10s buffer over Frenchman.
Some masterful tyre management aided his climb. The Australian was the penultimate driver to box for fresh rubber, switching from the Medium to the Soft Pirellis, which helped him maximise the pace beneath him.
“I didn’t respond to Tom [Stallard] when he said you’ve got a 10-second penalty. I was like, ‘The one race where we’ve got pace!’ But I got my head back down, and we pulled a big enough gap on the others, so I’m happy.”
On the other side of the garage, Lando had needed to make an early compound change in order to cover off an attack from Tsunoda, forcing him to take on the slower Hard rubber.
With Daniel on the Softs and needing to build up an advantage to compensate for the time penalty, Lando let him pass, which dropped him out of the points. Undeterred, the British racer still managed to recover to ninth, getting the better of Bottas before benefitting from Alonso's late retirement.
The result in Mexico puts us within seven points of fourth-placed Alpine in the Constructors' Championship, and Lando was delighted to have played his part in helping the team.
"The more points, the better," Lando said. "We did a good job, I don't think we had quicker cars than Alpine, but once again, as a team, we did a better job.
"We had to cover Yuki very early on with the Hard tyre, and that is what cost us, but that opened up the chance for Daniel to go long and switch to the Soft, which gave him an opportunity to finish P7 and score some very valuable points for us.
"The other side did a very good job today. I am happy, especially on a day when reliability was important. I am happy with the team."
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