A week ago at the Austrian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo made a bold statement despite missing the third segment of qualifying. Ricciardo described the RB01 as a “top 10” car despite being eliminated in Q2, and backed up the declaration by scoring points at the Red Bull Ring.
There was no similar comment from Ricciardo after British Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
Both Ricciardo and teammate Yuki Tsunoda were eliminated in Q2, with Tsunoda set to start Sunday’s main event in 13th place and Ricciardo in 15th. Speaking to the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team driver, he said he was “not happy” with how things went at Silverstone on Saturday.
“I’m not particularly happy with qualifying today, it wasn’t a good session and it’s something we have to work on,” Ricciardo said. “My two runs in Q2 didn’t go as I expected, I struggled to get a lap and then I got overtaken in the last corner and I don’t like being overtaken by other people.”
“My final push lap started a few seconds behind Zhou. [Guanyu]”And in dirty air you can never do a good lap. It hasn’t been easy these last three weeks but we found a way to make it work,” Ricciardo added. “Coming to Silverstone with the same struggles added to the frustration today because we can’t afford to get things wrong. We will address everything we need to in tonight’s debriefing and then look ahead to the race.”
While Ricciardo was unhappy with how Saturday’s race unfolded, his teammate was a little more pleased with the session.
“I’m happy with how the race went today. My team and I worked well together, communicating well during qualifying and adapting to the changing weather,” said Tsunoda. “I knew it would be tough going into qualifying because I lacked pace throughout free practice, and it’s disappointing that I couldn’t make up as much as I wanted, but the field is tight and you never know what’s going to happen.”
“We are struggling with pace in the high-speed corners at this track, just like last week, but we will try to maximise our performance tomorrow. Our pace was good even in the rain, so adapting and communicating with the weather will be key.”
VCARB technical director Jody Eggington noted that while the team may not have put Ricciardo in the best position in Q2, they have potential on Sunday.
“Unfortunately we didn’t put Daniel in good enough condition for his final run in Q2, which meant he got caught up in a lot of traffic and that changed his position for tomorrow,” Egginton said. “We’re a little bit further back than we would like to be, but the lap time difference to the cars around us is small and the team is working hard to get everything out of the car.”
Salvaging something on Sunday could be crucial for the team as they battle Haas for the F1 Constructors’ Championship. VCARB is currently 11 points behind Haas and sits sixth in the standings. But with Nico Hulkenberg starting sixth on Sunday, Haas has a strong chance of closing in on that lead. If either Ricciardo or Tsunoda can find a way to score some points, it would be a big step for the team.
And that will perhaps ease some of the frustration Ricciardo is feeling at Silverstone this Saturday.
