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Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo claimed the first-ever victory for the all new Renault Energy F1-2014 Power Unit in a thrilling Canadian Grand Prix today.
Sebastian Vettel finished in third, giving the Renault Energy a maiden double podium. With Jean-Eric Vergne taking eighth position for Scuderia Toro Rosso, Renault-powered cars secured three points-scoring positions in the nail-biting race.
Significantly, Ricciardo won the race on just 100kg of fuel. Vettel’s victory in 2013 used approximately 150kg, representing an improved efficiency of one third in just one year. Sophisticated energy recovery systems plus direct injection and controlled fuel flow have contributed to the vast improvements in fuel efficiency.
Key race points:
• The win is the first for Ricciardo in F1 and the first for Infiniti Red Bull Racing this season
• Ricciardo took second from Sergio Perez in an outstanding move on lap 66 and then moved into the lead on lap 68. Vettel seized third from Perez on the penultimate lap, steering clear of a collision between the Mexican and Felipe Massa
• Vergne had a clean race to finish in eighth, claiming four points. Team-mate Kvyat retired with transmission failure on lap 47
• Double retirement for Lotus F1 Team. Romain Grosjean retired with rear wing damage on lap 59, while Pastor Maldonado stopped on lap 21 with Power Unit related issues
• Disappointing double DNF for Caterham F1 Team. Marcus Ericsson stopped with a leak on the air line to the turbo, which caused the turbo to speed, while Kamui Kobayashi retired with suspension failure
Rémi Taffin, Head of Track Operations:
Congratulations to all at Red Bull and to Daniel on his first win – we hope this will start a trend! We are pleased and proud to be part of this result. We have worked extremely hard to overcome our reliability issues, working in close collaboration with the team on and off track to extract the most from of our package. Now we have shown a Renault-powered car can cross the finish line in first position, we will try and level up our performance to give our drivers the capability to race at the front from the start to the chequered flag.
Looking at where we were at the start of the year we have come a very long way in a very short time. Although our competitors experienced problems today, we were there to take the result in the end and get the first victory for the Renault Energy F1-2014, which will be a great motivator for all at Viry.
© RIF
