It is the first British-based foreign F1 car to utilize ExxonMobil fuel and lubricants since 2013, regarded as such due to its constructor Red Bull Racing operating under an Austrian license while simultaneously operating a base in Milton Keynes[4][5], along with Toro Rosso STR12 based in Faenza.

In China, Ricciardo left his Australian Grand Prix weekend's woes behind him and qualified in 5th behind a similar top 4 as in Australia.

The race was much better for Verstappen as he started from 16th after Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer received penalties for failing to slow down under yellow flags caused by Antonio Giovinazzi who crashed on the final corner during Q1.

This allowed Verstappen and Ricciardo to eclipse Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas in the pits.

The Bahrain Grand Prix saw Ricciardo outqualify Räikkönen for 4th, who undoubtedly was in a quicker car, and Verstappen qualified in 6th.

Ricciardo eventually lost out to Räikkönen's quicker Ferrari and finished behind him in 5th and Verstappen retired on lap 11 due to a brake failure.

At the Spanish Grand Prix, the team introduced a host of new parts to the car as a bid to close the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes.

His win was also made possible after all the cars which qualified ahead of him except Williams's Lance Stroll, had an incident or a penalty issued.