- Ricciardo is surprised by the difference in pace between himself and Tsunoda
- Aussie feels like he’s getting the most out of his car
- Says the car feels good, but lap time is an ongoing problem
Daniel Ricciardo has spoken about his 2024 F1 season after recording his worst qualifying result at the Australian Grand Prix when he was knocked out of Q1 for the first time at Albert Park.
The Aussie had delivered what looked like a final lap to progress to Q2, before the stewards canceled that time as they felt Ricciardo had exceeded the track limits at Turn 5.
The deleted lap time would have put Ricciardo in the top 10 and would have been good enough to advance to Q2.
However, the stewards’ call means that Ricciardo will not progress to Q2 and will start on the back row of the grid based on his second-best lap time, leaving the Aussie in 18th position.
Ricciardo was dejected and ‘bewildered’ on Saturday afternoon by the difference in pace between himself and teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Ricciardo is ‘surprised’ by the pace difference between himself and teammate Yuki Tsunoda
The Australian F1 star qualified 18th, his worst ever performance at Albert Park
“I felt like I had gotten everything out of it, and when I saw that it still wasn’t good enough, let’s say compared to Yuki, for me that’s… yeah, I’m still a little bit surprised,” shared him to the media. .
‘Because I know what those laps normally mean, and I crossed the line like ‘yeah, that was a good one’, but those laps are normally enough, more than enough, and it’s still not.
‘And when I look at the time he achieved in Q2, I can now tell you that I cannot achieve seven tenths more than what I achieved in Q1.
“So I’m sure there’s a bit of track evo (evolution), but honestly there’s still some things we need to look at because it’s definitely been a struggle so far.”
Ricciardo explained that changes to his car after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix seemed promising, but lap times are still an issue.
“It seemed like it was better, but I’m still not completely convinced,” he said. “As I said, we still feel like we are struggling more than normal in a car which again I am quite happy with. .
‘It was actually a very nice car to drive. The lap time alone proves the opposite.’
Ricciardo said the recent adjustments to the car seem promising, but it is still not up to speed
Ricciardo said he feels he is getting everything out of his car, but that is still not enough
Meanwhile, Australian rising star Oscar Piastri will start Sunday’s race from sixth place after an impressive qualifying session for McLaren.
“Exciting,” Piastri said.
‘It’s been a good weekend so far. We have good momentum. Let’s see what we can do.’
Max Verstappen has his sights set on a third straight victory to open 2024, with the defending Formula 1 world champion claiming pole for the Australian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull superstar blew qualifying on its head on Saturday as he aims to emulate last year’s race win at Albert Park.
Verstappen secured the 35th pole of his career, finishing ahead of resurgent Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.