Ricciardo feeling disheartened after “frustrating” P14 qualification

Daniel Ricciardo was extremely disappointed after qualifying 14th for tomorrow’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the flat Honey Badger describing last night’s qualifying hour as a “frustrating session”.

Ricciardo said he came into qualifying feeling optimistic. 

The RB driver had finished FP3 in P16, however, was feeling “quite good” in his VCARB 01.

“I was confident going into qualifying, and I was feeling quite good in the car,” Ricciardo said.

“So, yeah, it’s uh… not a good one.”

In Q1, Ricciardo and his teammate found themselves bordering the dangerous elimination zone.

The duo managed to promote themselves, however, only just with Ricciardo ending the opening 18 minutes of qualifying in P13. 

Daniel Ricciardo during Qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.

His fastest time of Q1 was a 1:29.065s, just milliseconds slower than his eventual Q2 pace.

“Compared to Bahrain, where I was more frustrated with myself because I knew there was more time on the table, today was a little bit more of a mystery,” Ricciardo said.

“I think we knew where there was some time, but then, trying to get that time, we simply just plateaued.”

In the second session, it was a similar story for the #3.

His first run fell flat compared to the rest of the remaining 15 drivers, seeing Ricciardo sitting in the elimination zone as the clock ticked down. 

His fastest lap of Q2 was a 1:29.025s, four-hundredths of a second faster than his Q1 time at the hands of a costly mistake.

“In Q2, everyone was improving their lap time, but I felt like I couldn’t get any more out of what I had.

“It wasn’t a matter of understeer or oversteer, but more that I didn’t have the grip compared to the others.

“Well done to Yuki, he did a great job!”

Daniel Ricciardo in the pitlane after qualifying in P14 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Image: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images // Red Bull Content Pool.

Yuki Tsunoda managed to scrap through to the top ten shootout, ultimately qualifying in P9 ahead of Lance Stroll.

“Even if I had another set [of tyres] now, I don’t think I’d go any quicker,” Ricciardo said. 

“I think we have a couple ideas of where some [pace] is, but, sure, frustrating session.”

Riccardo’s costly mistake on his second run meant he was exiting qualifying earlier than desired for the second time this season, with the Australian set to line up from P14.

Ricciardo said the RB team would “figure it out” before the race tomorrow, however, following the tricky session, the #3 couldn’t “think about the race yet”.

“I still want to just try and dissect qualifying.

“I have a few areas in mind to analyse, so we’ll look into them and hopefully, we’ll find more performance for the race.”

Ricciardo will have a chance to redeem himself come 4:00 AM, AEST, Sunday morning, with his overtaking prowess the only factor able to save him from another points-less finish in 2024.

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