Daniel Ricciardo admitted being confused after his best qualifying lap wasn’t good enough to match his teammate’s.
Ricciardo was knocked out in Q1, as his lap – which initially put him in Q2 – was invalidated since he exceeded the track limits. Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda, his teammate, managed to get through to Q3.
The Aussie admitted that the lap he put in felt good, and he was satisfied with it. However, he doesn’t understand how is it possible that he loses so much time compared to Tsunoda.
“The lap itself I was happy with,” Ricciardo said. “From my side, I felt like I got everything out of it. And then when I saw it still wasn’t good enough, let’s say, compared to Yuki.
“I’m still a bit puzzled because I know what those laps normally mean. So, I crossed the line, being like ‘Yeah, that was a good one’.
“Obviously, the time got deleted, but the lap itself was definitely the best quali lap I’ve done this year.
“And going into Q2, I don’t know where there was much more time. You obviously take a couple of tenths from track evo. But six, seven-tenths? That’s not in it.”
Ricciardo continued by underlining that, in contrast to how he felt when he was driving for McLaren, he is confident under braking, and he likes the balance of the car.
“I feel confident in terms of braking and balance and all that. So it’s not like, say, [at] McLaren, where I was a bit unsure and all ‘I can’t really push the car here’. Some corner speeds I see, I’m simply just not able to carry that speed.”
“I feel like I’m at the edge with the car in terms of, like, pretty much four-wheel sliding. So it’s balanced. And I feel now I’m at the limit of where its potential is.”