Ricciardo finishes sixth in Russia as two Renault powered cars finish in the top ten in Sochi

(Renault Sport F1)

Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo finished this afternoon's Russian Grand Prix in Sochi as the leading Renault powered car as the Australian finished the inaugural race in Russia in 6th place following an extremely close battle with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finishing the race in 7th place just ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel in 8th place.

After an extremely strong qualifying session yesterday which saw him start the race from fifth place home favourite Daniil Kvyat was left disappointed in his Toro Rosso as the Russian finished the race outside the points in 14th place and behind his team mate Jean Eric Vergne who finished the race in 13th place.

The Lotus F1 Team duo of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado left Sochi disappointed as they finished the race in 17th and 18th place respectively. Maldonado will head to the next race in Austin in three weeks time hoping of scoring his first points for the team following what has been an extremely tough season for the Enstone based outfit.

The Caterham F1 Team's Marcus Ericsson was left disappointed as he finished the race in 19th place while his team mate Kamui Kobayashi failed to finish the race. 

Speaking following the race Renault Sport's Head of Track Operations Remi Taffin commented by saying:

'Sochi was a tough race for us so to get two cars in the top-10 was a good result, even if we’re used to finishing higher. Daniel might have been able to fight for a better finish had he not been swamped at the start and only having one pit-stop to play with. There was also minimal tyre degradation so being smooth didn’t pay its usual dividends.

This was the first time that anyone had raced at Sochi and there was no prior data to base our analysis on. Nevertheless, I thought everyone did a great job to manage their energy and fuel consumption, as we knew it would be marginal. Our reliability was also good here, but in the end we don’t have too many points to show for it. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

Finally, I must congratulate our great rivals Mercedes for wrapping up the Constructors’ title. We know the feeling well and will be doing everything in our power to take it back. That starts as early as Austin in three weeks when, for the first time since 2010, we will be the challengers! 

There is still much to play for and we’ll be doing everything possible to help Red Bull secure second in the championship.'

© Ben Johnston 2014