Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner says Daniel Ricciardo exceeded expectations after finishing second at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Ricciardo, who pitted late for the supersoft tyre, finished just 0.4s behind Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and had the race run one extra lap he may well have claimed his fourth career win. Horner says the team tried everything they could to cause an upset at Marina Bay.
"We tried a different strategy at the end of the race, which forced [Mercedes] to stick to the two stop," Horner said. "I think the intention was for Nico to cover us, but they aborted at the last minute because Daniel's out lap was stonkingly strong together with a fast pit stop. We were within the undercut, so they then chose to stay out, which meant a 26, 27 second gap.
"Having run the maths quickly, it looked like we would catch him within a lap or two of the end, but of course the tyres start to run out of steam.
"Daniel did a fantastic job to close Nico down over the last laps. To get within half a second after two hours was a great performance."
Ricciardo seemed to be closing in on Rosberg at around two to three seconds per lap before he hit traffic, and despite clearing it quickly he never rediscover the early speed.
But Horner believes traffic wasn't to blame for missing the chance to take victory.
"We picked up DRS from Gutierrez so what we lost we gained. It cost Rosberg probably a little bit more than us, so it evened out," he said.
"If we had stopped a lap earlier on the tyre, they were right on the limit because Daniel had taken a lot out of them. But it made an exciting finish to the race, and it was great to put him under a bit of pressure."