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Daniel Ricciardo was puzzled with the tire behavior in a disappointing qualifying ahead of the Miami GP, in contrast to the scintillating sprint performance earlier in the day. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the RB driver suggested that the second set of tires used in Q3 lacked grip and there was nothing wrong with the car.
After qualifying fourth ahead of the sprint race, Ricciardo was down in 18th and got knocked out of the first session of qualifying for the main race. His onboard video suggested he suffered from a combination of understeer and oversteer. Baffled at his performance, the Aussie was heard ranting on his radio that he lacked rear-end grip. He explained after the session that his initial qualifying was good but the second one on a different set of soft tires.
Comparing his session to that of Lando Norris in the sprint qualifying, the 34-year-old felt the Briton faced a similar situation with his tires when he switched from medium to softs. His admission comes as one of the common complaints drivers had throughout the weekend, where the soft tires were difficult to manage with the soaring track temperatures and grip levels. Mercedes switched both their drivers to medium tires for their final attempt in qualifying.
Explaining the struggles in qualifying, Ricciardo said:
“I mean like my first thought was exactly what Lando felt in Q3 yesterday. I watched his lap and obviously he was P1 on the medium and put the soft on and had no rear. I saw his (onboard) already from turn 1 and turn 2, he was sliding everywhere. I honestly the same thing with the second set of softs. The first set was fine, I was obviously chipping away at it but we were in a decent spot to obviously progress through. But yeah the second set we started sliding out for Turn 1 and it got worse through the laps. So yeah I don’t think it's the car, the car is fine. It was just a set of tires that didn’t feel that they were a soft set of tires.”
Daniel Ricciardo frustrated with the contrasting fortunes ahead of the Miami GP
Daniel Ricciardo lamented at the contrasting fortunes in one day, where he scored his first points in the sprint earlier in the day and was knocked out in the first qualifying session. He felt that it was one of the unpredictable factors about the sport which was frustrating and the three-place grid penalty received in China made it worse. He claimed there were no changes made to his car between the sprint and qualifying session and hoped to understand more about the odd tire behavior that cost him a few grid places.
Commenting on the contrasting fortunes in one day and the penalty, Ricciardo said:
“This is the sport. Obviously I am frustrated but again its not like we got something really wrong. Hopefully we understand why everything looked fine with that. But you know what you feel, you know the grip you feel and it simply wasn’t same as the first set. So doesn’t change the fact that we are going to start last. But we’ll try and do something for tomorrow. It’s not anything where we should be like ‘what the hell just happened’. We do feel that but nothing with the car. It was simply a tire thing.”
Frustrated with the starting grid spot, Daniel Ricciardo spoke to F1 TV saying:
“I genuinely think we’re not an 18th-place car and it was just… hopefully we understand why sometimes the tyres behave as they do..We’re quicker than obviously what we showed, so we’ll just see what tomorrow brings. We have the penalty, so I think we’re dead last, so a contrast to this morning. Obviously I’m not happy, but it’s also one of those things… this morning I told the team let’s at least enjoy this for the next 30 minutes because this sport is highly unpredictable.”
Ricciardo scored five points in the sprint race where he finished fourth in a strong showing, defending a Ferrari and McLaren. Earning the first points of the season brings some relief after the five frustrating weekends, which led to an enormous amount of criticism and scrutiny over his form. Starting last on the grid might not be the most ideal spot for the Perth-born driver, but his sprint form does elevate his confidence to be able to surge through the pack in the race. His car has been updated with a new floor ahead of the race.
