Daniel Ricciardo says his early puncture at the Chinese Grand Prix "hurts a lot" because he is sure it cost him a place on the podium.
Ricciardo got a great start off the line in Shanghai and beat the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg into Turn 1. He led the two laps but soon ran over debris from the first-corner chaos and suffered a spectacular rear left tyre failure on the long backstraight, though he was able to bring his Red Bull home to the pits.
The Australian turned in a brilliant drive to finish fourth, behind teammate Daniil Kvyat, but he is convinced he would have been celebrating on the podium were it not for the early blowout.
"Part of me hurts a lot right now," Ricciardo said. "I think we should be standing second on the podium but it didn't' happen. The positives are the pace was really good, I think I recovered and the team recovered with me -- we drove an amazing race, a perfect race. Just a shame we don't get some champagne."
When asked what happened, Ricciardo said: "Not sure why, no. There was a bit of debris on the first lap and when we came around lap two I saw some debris on the track. Obviously I tried to avoid it, so I don't know if it was anything like that -- it just came very, very suddenly.
"I did the start I needed and around Turn 11, Turn 12, I felt already something was wrong. I came on the radio and said the tyres were finished. A couple of seconds later the tyre burst and that's where we lost the lead but also had to pit, then the safety car put us even further back."
Despite his frustration, Ricciardo admits he is "immensely proud" of the drive he turned in after his puncture.
"The puncture was unlucky, and then the safety car put us even further back. So we restarted 17th, so to get through Hamilton and the Williams at the end, and the pace we had, I'm definitely proud.
"I am immensely proud of the way I recovered and the way the team got me back on track. We did the best we could. We closed it up. I could see Danny down the back straight in the last few laps. I know I could not catch him. Of course for the team it is awesome to finish third and fourth. We should be second, that is a fact, but that is racing. It is unlucky, but it sucks, it really does."