Ricciardo took fastest lap point off Norris “with Red Bull in mind” · F1 · RaceFans

Daniel Ricciardo said he expects a Christmas present for helping Max Verstappen in his championship fight in the Singapore Grand Prix.

The RB driver pitted to take a new set of soft tyres at the end of the race. That allowed him to set the fastest lap on the final tour, his 1’34.486 beating the previous best set by Lando Norris, a 1’34.925.

As Ricciardo was running 18th, setting the fastest lap made no different to his championship position. However it took one point away from Norris in his effort to catch Verstappen.

Although Ricciardo drives for RB and Verstappen for Red Bull, both teams share the same owner. Ricciardo’s radio messages indicated he did not ask to pit to make an attempt for the fastest lap.

Ricciardo is widely expected to lose his place at RB after this weekend. He admitted that was in his mind after setting the fastest lap.

“Part of me is – I don’t mean this against Lando – but part of me is hoping Max wins by one point, because I think I guaranteed myself a really nice Christmas present if so,” he told Sky.

“It’s just, I think obviously, yeah, it’s with a little bit of Red Bull in mind. But maybe just to have one last crack at doing a fast one, if it is to be it.”

Afterwards Red Bull team principal Christian Horner expressed his gratitude to Ricciardo for helping Verstappen.

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“Daniel, we know his capabilities,” Horner told the official F1 channel. “We know exactly what he’s done.

“He showed, again, with that final lap that he did that which obviously was valuable to us because obviously it takes the point off Lando.”

Selected Ricciardo radio messages from the end of the Singapore Grand Prix

Ricciardo’s discussion with his race engineer Pierre Hamelin over the final laps, as broadcast:

Hamelin	Yuki 36.5
Ricciardo	Is he in clear air?
Hamelin	Confirmed
Hamelin	Okay Daniel anything we can help you with to catch Russell’s DRS?
Ricciardo	Er no. Nothing really. Balance isn’t too bad just losing overall.
Hamelin	And Leclerc is 1.4. I’ll keep you posted.
Hamelin	Okay Daniel head down push on.
Hamelin	Daniel we are on diff exit two for fastest lap.
Hamelin	Box box, box box.
Hamelin	Keep pushing, keep pushing.
Hamelin	Okay Daniel heads up. After turn 14 we will go
Hamelin	Sainz 2.5.
Hamelin	Charge on, start 12, mode one.
Hamelin	Sainz 2.4. Offset one.
Hamelin	Strat 12. Charge off.
Hamelin	Strat two when you can.
Hamelin	Mode 10, mode 10. This is last lap.
Hamelin	Okay charge on, fail 84 please.
Hamelin	Okay obviously we tried and nothing happened out there so it didn’t work out. But I’m glad we tried. I think that was a very well-managed stint on the medium. Very well managed. You’ve done all the right things there, and you’ve got the fastest lap.
Ricciardo	Understood. Yep. Thank you, guys. Thank you.
Hamelin	Okay mate, thanks again for the hard work. We will stop at the bridge, P1 and full car switch off, P0 and everything else.