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Daniel Ricciardo believes that his qualifying session ahead of the 2024 Monaco GP was a mixed bag following a frustrating result. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda after the qualifying session, the RB driver claimed he struggled to find the lap time at the street circuit.
Yearning for a clean weekend, Daniel Ricciardo was frustrated with his result in the qualifying session. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda ahead of the race weekend, Ricciardo claimed he was excited to perform at a circuit where he had succeeded before.
In the first qualifying, the former Monaco GP winner managed to outpace his teammate Yuki Tsunoda comfortably. But in Q2, the latter managed to improve his lap time while the Australian was unable to generate the pace needed to qualify into the top 10. He eventually qualified in 13th place while his teammate managed to qualify in P8.
Asked by Sportskeeda about his contrasting Q1 and Q2, Daniel Ricciardo said:
“Yeah, it was weird. I think Q1 actually went relatively well. Obviously, we got through and we were maybe P11 or something. So we were obviously there close to then what would have been a Q3 shot. I think Q2, everyone was able to go first time lap and it felt like that was what everyone was converting to and making the tire go and work. And then for me personally, I struggled to get everything out of the tire on the first lap. So you know I was able to find maybe three tenths but everyone else was able to find whatever it was six, seven tenths.”
“So that was where I struggled, especially once I got to the tight stuff in the middle sector, I was honestly struggling with the front. So I felt like I would need to be quite quick on the out lap to get the front going, but then yeah my engineer said I was quite a bit quicker than Yuki and obviously I was still struggling with that. So not really sure but yeah just frustrating because here it's so important to qualify and it was fun it felt good. But just obviously takes the fun out of it when you’re not quick enough,” he added.
Daniel Ricciardo was gutted after his Monaco GP result despite the motivation ahead of the weekend
Daniel Ricciardo feels the Monaco GP qualifying result is a disappointing result he will have to accept, despite the motivation going into the weekend. Without blaming the result on the tires, Ricciardo stated that he wanted to reflect on where he lacked.
The Australian reckoned that he would try and analyze with the team where he lacked in the lap time compared to Yuki Tsunoda. However, he was puzzled with the behavior of his tires which were difficult to warm up in the second session to prepare them for a timed lap.
Asked by Sportskeeda about his motivation going into the race, Daniel Ricciardo said:
“I definitely feel, yeah, I had a lot of energy going into qualifying. I certainly feel a bit zapped now because the result's not good enough and it's not where I think I can be. But obviously, you know, I'm not disappointed with the way I drove. It just simply wasn't quite to getting the most out of it where I needed to."
"So yeah, I mean look of course I can say tires felt this and that but I need to try and understand what I was doing different to Yuki and try to understand that. So but of course saying that you know trying to understand it, you need to, but it doesn't change your results. So it's just, have to suck this one up,” he added.
When asked where he struggled the most, Daniel Ricciardo explained:
“Yeah just as soon as I got into five like the tighter stuff as soon as I slip the tire I just feel like it really falls away. And let's say with my experience that feels like yeah the tire is not quite hot enough got enough energy going through it. So you know I was really trying to do that on the outlap.
"But clearly some others were going slower and still making it work. So that's where I'm a little bit puzzled at the moment, why I was still struggling there. But yeah it started at five and then yeah so push and then get a snap and then that whole section just becomes a bit of a mess. So that's where I felt probably that little bit of time I needed to maybe have a shot at Q3 got away from me", he added.
Despite the dull qualifying, Daniel Ricciardo has been promoted from 13th to 12th place as Nico Hulkenberg has been disqualified. The German driver and his teammate Kevin Magnussen have been disqualified from the session due to a technical infringement. This pushes the former Red Bull Racing driver ahead in the grid but he will have his work cut out in the race.
Monaco is one of those circuits where 70 percent of the race result is decided in a qualifying session. Undercut and overcut pitstop strategies can help sometimes apart from safety cars, crashes, and red flags during the race which open opportunities to surge through the pack. Wanting to turn around the performance slump, Daniel Ricciardo would be eager to deliver a competitive result around a circuit he enjoys driving around.
