Ricciardo Seeks Answers After British GP Woes
Ahead of the next Formula 1 calendar event, Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo is still trying to make sense of his underwhelming performance at the British Grand Prix, where he finished a disappointing 13th. The Renault driver had hoped to build upon his encouraging ninth-place finish in Austria but struggled to find pace throughout the weekend.
Ricciardo’s woes began in Q2, where he qualified with the slowest time in the second stage, citing that his run plan was not optimised by his Red Bull Racing (RB) team. To make matters worse, an unscheduled engine change before the race meant he was down on power with an older unit.
“Compromised is a polite way of saying it,” he expressed. “Hopefully, there’s a big hole in my car that I haven’t yet seen and that is the reason why we’re really slow.”
Ricciardo’s struggles were highlighted when he was overtaken by Williams driver Logan Sargeant in the latter stages of the race. “You know, like looking at the Williams at the end on that stint and [Logan] Sargeant pulled away from me and I believe [Alex] Albon came and passed [Yuki] Tsunoda,” he said.
The Australian driver was at a loss to understand why he was eight-tenths off the pace, despite feeling like he had put in a good lap. “There was moments my engineer was telling me I think I was about eight-tenths off and I was quite surprised to hear that because I felt like I just crossed the line and did a good lap.”
Ricciardo acknowledged that the mixed conditions at Silverstone had exposed RB’s weaknesses, with other teams making significant updates. “These circuits have exposed us a little bit and the other teams have made some good updates and that’s also reality,” he said.
The former Red Bull driver has conceded that he didn’t maximise his chances in the British GP, with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda racing to 10th spot to collect a single point. “So I remember a little bit where I was struggling with the lap time, trying to find it,” Ricciardo explained.
Ricciardo has reiterated that he was satisfied with the balance on his car in the race, leading him to suspect that RB is lacking aero load compared to other cars. “So that’s why when I heard the lap times of the others, I was quite confused because I said I did the lap and the lap felt pretty clean,” he said.
With the next Formula 1 news event on the horizon, Ricciardo is determined to work with his team to identify the source of their struggles and make improvements. “So yeah, I was just sort of saying, watching the other cars in front, I felt, yeah, the high speed, they were really able to pull away a little bit more,” he said.
As the Formula 1 standings continue to take shape, Ricciardo is focused on learning from his disappointing performance at the British Grand Prix and pushing for a stronger result in the upcoming races.
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