After topping the timesheets in the first practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo began to believe he had a chance of making it to Q3 in Friday’s qualifying session.
But when the dust settled at the Bahrain International Circuit on Friday night and Q3 began, Ricciardo and teammate Yuki Tsunoda were on the outside watching. Ricciardo finished the day in 14th place and Tsunoda in 11th place.
After looking forward to the promise and potential the team showed on Thursday, Ricciardo was “disappointed” with the result.
“To be honest, I’m not really happy with my performance tonight and I’m a little disappointed. I think the weekend was going well and I was pretty confident heading into qualifying. However, I never felt completely comfortable and felt like there was something wrong with me during the laps, so I didn’t cross the line feeling like I had done a good job,” Ricciardo said in the team’s post. Ta. Preliminary report.
Still, he was encouraged by what he saw from his teammates.
“In terms of our car and our pace, as you can see, where Yuki is is exactly what we expected. Tonight was the least comfortable I’ve been this weekend so far, but I’m on track for the race. “My approach to the car is different and I feel more confident for tomorrow,” Ricciardo added. “I think we still have a chance to get points.”
As you might expect, Mr. Tsunoda took a more optimistic approach.
“It’s disappointing to miss out on making it to Q3 by a small margin, but I’m happy with my performance. We struggled quite a bit yesterday, especially in FP2, but the team did a great job of turning things around overnight. However, the car felt good today,” said Tsunoda. “We are still in the process of getting our car right, but we are improving session by session, so I am happy with our progress. It’s a point-scoring event, so I’ll focus on tomorrow and try again. The car is in a good position long-term, so I’m excited to race again with confidence!”
Alan Permane, the team’s sporting director, also summed up the day. It was a “full” day for Permane, and the team is certainly up for the fight.
“The first qualifying session of the season was solid for us. We were aiming for the top of the midfield and with Yuuki in 11th and Daniel very close to him, we were able to do just that. “Today’s result was a good reaction from the whole team after yesterday’s tough FP2 session,” Permane added. “We’re expecting a very close race tomorrow, but it’s always tricky because of the high power.” [tire] deterioration.I’m looking forward to seeing where we are both in terms of race pace and race pace. [tire] Management intends to drive both cars forward.”
