Ricciardo unsure of what is possible for home race

Daniel Ricciardo will start the 2024 Australian Grand Prix from his lowest grid position on home turf and admits he “doesn’t know” what he can achieve.

Ricciardo is starting from the penultimate position on the grid, 18th after his fastest time in Q1 was deleted due to the track limits at turn 5.

It would have been enough to get through to Q2 but instead his 1:18.085 was only enough to edge ahead of Zhou Guanyu who had floor damage.

It will be his lowest start ever on home turf with his previous worst 15th in 2017 when he slid into the gravel at turn 14.

Ricciardo admits it is “painful” and is not sure what is possible with a lot of ground to make to get points.

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if I’ve figured it out, I don’t think it’s sunk in where I start. It’s certainly painful,” Ricciardo said. 

“The only thing I can be optimistic about is the home crowd is great. 

“I think it’s probably a two-stop race with tire wear and that, so it opens up a bit more opportunity.

“Maybe if I can be a bit nicer on the tires, could provide something, and hopefully some guys struggle with graining.

“Hopefully we can charge through the field, but I’m still a bit… still kind of occupied on where the lap time is currently in this car.”

On the moment itself, Ricciardo knew he had been too greedy.

“I knew at the time, Turn 4, I was fighting it, and I remember taking more curb than I usually am, so I knew I was wider than usual” he said. 

“But it’s funny, you do it, and already after Turn 5, I’ve forgotten about it. So I did the lap, and then eventually when Pierre told me, honestly I’d forgot all about it. I think it took a while for it to sink in.”

The worrying thing for Ricciardo is that he described the deleted time as the “best lap of the year” and was still well short of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who made it to Q3 and will start eighth.

“The time that got deleted was definitely the best qualy lap that I’ve done this year, and those ones are normally quite good,” he said. 

“Going into Q2, I don’t know where there was much more time. You obviously take a couple of tenths from track evolution, but six, seven-tenths, that’s not in it. 

“I feel confident in terms of braking and balance and all that. It’s not say McLaren where I was a bit unsure and I can’t push the car here. 

“But yeah, you just, some corner speeds I see, simply not able to gain enough speed.”

Photo by Mark Sutton / Sutton Images/Motorsport Images

2024 Australian Grand Prix schedule (AEDT)

Friday, March 22

Practice 1: 1: L. Norris 2: M. Verstappen 3: G. Russell

Practice 2: 1: C. Leclerc 2: M. Verstappen 3: C. Sainz

Saturday, March 23

Practice 3: 1: C. Leclerc 2: M. Veratappen 3: C. Sainz

Qualifying: 1: M. Verastappen 2: C. Sainz 3: S. Perez

Sunday, March 24

Grand Prix: 15.00

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