Ricciardo converts Sprint “pros and cons” into “happier” qualifying result

After gaining important “learnings” during Saturday’s Sprint Race teaser, Daniel Ricciardo’s weekend reset for the better as RB’s strategic setup adjustments propelled the Australian into P11, just 15 milliseconds away from a place in Q3.

A poor outing during Friday’s Sprint Qualifying session left Ricciardo starting the Sprint Race from the backend of the grid.

His struggles were compounded as he arrived at the first braking zone, with Ricciardo losing out a position to Logan Sargeant at the opening corner. 

He remained behind the Williams driver for 16 out of 23 laps, only managing to pass the #2 into the popular overtaking zone at Turn 4. 

After regaining his starting position, Ricciardo soon found himself trailing a tense battle between Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.

Having a front-row seat to their squabble proved virtuous for Ricciardo when the pairing had a dicey moment at Turn 3.

Hulkenberg attempted to lunge down the inside of the tight corner, locking up in the process which forced Alonso off track.

With the two drivers occupied with the task of recovering from the “borderline” incident, Ricciardo managed to slip past Alonso, almost having enough pace to challenge the German as well before settling into P15.

“There’s always some pros and cons, some good and bad, but I think it was important, obviously just to… you know, we know in a Sprint, when we start where we do, it’s hard to get into the points,” Ricciardo said.

“It’s important we just learn for tomorrow, and now with parc ferme open, we can change the car.

“The weekend definitely resets now and it’s a chance for us to fight further up the front tomorrow.

“Some positives in battles, I think the way the car responded was not too bad, but on the flip side when you’re obviously fighting and that, you do hurt the tyres a little more so towards the end of the race, maybe struggled a bit more.

“Generally, some learnings and all we can do in a short race like this.”

The moment between the #14 and #27 was investigated after the chequered flag and ultimately resulted in Hulkenberg being handed a 10-second penalty.

The penalty dropped the Haas driver from P14 to P19, promoting Ricciardo into Hulkenberg’s former position in the process.

Daniel Ricciardo on track during the Sprint Race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Image: Joerg Mitter / Red Bull Ring.

In between the Sprint and Grand Prix Qualifying sessions, RB was keen to make changes to both VCARB 01s.

It was a fine line between completing the adjustments and starting qualifying, however, the team managed to send their drivers out on time with a setup that proved effective.

Ricciardo’s first hurdle to overcome was making it out of Q1, a feat he had failed to achieve under the tight constraints of SQ1 on Friday.

His first flying lap placed him within the top ten, however, at a distance to Yuki Tsunoda who flew into the top three.

Coming as a refreshing change for the #3, Ricciardo remained clear of the elimination zone for the entire 18-minute session, boosting himself higher in the order to P9 after his final flying.

Advancing to the second round, Q2 was a matter of margins for Ricciardo, with the ‘Honey Badger’ ultimately drawing the short straw in that regard by the chequered flag.

Starting Q2 after a strategically prolonged moment in his garage, the RB driver punched in an opening time of 1:05.334s, placing him ahead of Tsunoda. 

Ricciardo drifted back to P10, holding the at-risk position as the second and final attempts for a place into the top ten shootout unfolded.

Despite setting personal bests in Sectors 1 and 2, his inability to improve in the middle sector cost the #3 greatly.

The deficit saw Ricciardo being eliminated from the session, with his fastest lap of Q2 being a 1:05.289s.

What made Ricciardo’s elimination more painful, was the tantalising slim margin standing between him and a place in Q3. 

“It’s frustration of course, but I would say it’s probably two types of frustration,” Ricciardo said.

“At least this one’s, let’s say, a more positive one because for us to be disappointed with just, just, just, just missing out by virtually nothing on Q3, I think we made a lot of progress since yesterday.

“Obviously, yeah, this time yesterday, we were out in Q1 so again, small margins but you’re going to get that around this circuit, you know, it’s such a short lap time.

“Yeah, frustrating, so on that point of view, for sure, that one hurts, but we’re at least in the fight today and that’s something we have to be proud about.”

The RB driver was knocked out by just 15 milliseconds to Esteban Ocon but will find confidence in out-qualifying his teammate, who came under fire for his use of offensive language over the radio during the session, by two-tenths.

The qualifying head-to-head battle at RB now sits at 8-3 in Tsunoda’s favour.

“It puts us in a much better position, I think we changed the car a lot yesterday and again just having that one set of tyres in SQ1 was going to make it tricky, but today, obviously we had a little bit more time to get used to the changes,” Ricciardo said.

“I felt like every run we did, every lap we were more or less there so, yeah, happier.

“Happier with putting a string of good laps together.”

“I think we still need to find something a little bit extra for tomorrow but today’s qualifying put us in a much better position for the race. 

“It’s going to be a longer one with pit stops and tyre differences, so there’s no reason to believe we can’t be a top ten car tomorrow.”

Lights out for the 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix will take place at 11:00 PM (AEST).

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

2024 Austrian Grand Prix Schedule:

Friday, June 28th

FP1: 20:30-21:30

Saturday, June 29th

Sprint Qualifying: 00:30-01:14

Sprint Race: 20:00-21:30

Sunday, June 30th

Qualifying: 00:00-01:00

Race: 23:00

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