Daniel Ricciardo has agreed with Max Verstappen being handed the Belgian GP win.
The Belgian GO saw standings handed out by default, according to qualification results. This was also accompanied by half points. That meant Verstappen, the pole sitter and Ricciardo’s former teammate, ended up winning the race and bagging 12.5 points.
There was a lot of controversy that took place after the race was done. From fans to teams, there were many who felt hard done. They thought the decision to award half points was unfair. However, Ricciardo agreed with the FIA’s decision.
According to Ricciardo, the points were awarded based on the performance put in during qualifying. He felt that shouldn’t go unrewarded, and agreed with Verstappen being handed the Belgian GP win.
“To be honest, I don’t know yet if it’s completely good or not,” Ricciardo said, as reported by Motorsport.
“But you can say it would be unfair not to hand out anything. Max did the hard work on Saturday, put his car on pole, and probably would have won under these conditions because he was the only one with decent visibility.
“If I didn’t give any points at all, then that would be unfair in my view.”
Fortune favours the fast
Ricciardo was having a bad qualification until his teammate Lando Norris crashed in Q3. This meant his team’s hopes rested on his shoulders, and he stepped up massively. In the dying moments of Q3, Ricciardo crossed the line with the fourth-fastest time, qualifying P4 and subsequently finishing P4. He rated his performance highly, and hoped such a situation would never happen again.
“Certainly. If I now look back on Saturday, I am very happy with qualifying,” Ricciardo said.
“It already had the power and the charisma (to qualify fourth). Fortunately, we will never end up in this situation again. Hopefully, this will also be the very last time,” the McLaren driver concluded.
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