A botched pit stop cost him victory at the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix – and it was pit problems that once again left Daniel Ricciardo dismayed at the 2019 running of the race, after his Renault team’s decision to box him under the Safety Car on Lap 11 ended up costing the Australian a shot at fifth place. Starting the race in P6, Ricciardo had targeted getting ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s fifth-placed Haas off the line, which he duly did, sweeping around the outside of the Dane at Sainte Devote to slot into P5 behind the Ferrari of his old team mate Sebastian Vettel.

We got a late call on the Safety Car to box, and as soon as we came in, my gut feeling was that it wasn’t the right call Daniel Ricciardo

But when the Safety Car was pulled 10 laps later, both Ricciardo and Magnussen were boxed and left to re-join in 13th and 14th, while Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon continued to lap in P5, P6, P7 and P8 – the positions that all four drivers would eventually finish the race in, as Ricciardo came home in P9. And come the end of the Grand Prix, the Australian was on the hunt for explanations from his team about the thinking behind their pit stop strategy. “I got out of Turn 1 in fifth and I was smiling and the team gave me a bit of love after that,” said Ricciardo. “Then we got a late call on the Safety Car to box, and to be honest as soon as we came in, my gut feeling was that it wasn’t the right call, because the tyres were fine and we had the pace. “Here it’s all about track position and giving up so much so early just felt wrong. So, disappointing. We missed a very big opportunity today to get a fifth, at the very worst a sixth. So yeah, sit down with the guys now and understand it, but yeah, certainly frustrated… We could have had a real big result today.”