Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian driver for RB VCARB 01, expressed his frustration over not being able to complete a full lap during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. This hindered his chances of securing a top-10 starting position. Despite making it to the second stage, Ricciardo could only manage the 14th fastest time in Q2, placing him three spots behind his teammate Yuki Tsunoda. He lamented the fact that he was unable to piece together a single flawless lap, always feeling like there was room for improvement in certain sections of the track. Ricciardo admitted his disappointment with his performance but remains optimistic about the team’s overall performance. While he believes there is still some untapped potential, he acknowledges that their current position is in line with expectations. Although he hoped for a better result, Ricciardo acknowledges that 12th place would have been a more realistic outcome. He ended up more than one-tenth of a second behind the cutoff for Q3, but he believes that the slim margins made his result appear worse than it actually was. Ricciardo is disappointed in himself for not being able to capitalize on the opportunities presented during qualifying. He recognizes that qualifying is the time to deliver and regrets not being able to do so.
Regarding the extent of his difficulties, Ricciardo explained how braking for Turn 1 was one area that he had trouble addressing despite understanding what he needed to change.
“It was like I just had a hard time putting everything together. I felt like if I pushed really hard in one corner, then I would probably mess up the next corner,” he clarified.
“So I felt like it was a bit tricky to consistently improve in every corner. I felt like yeah, you gain a bit here lose a bit there then get it back and then… So it was a bit of a challenge.
“But then like, for example, Turn 1 I missed the apex quite a few times, just not getting the front in. But every lap was ‘Oh yeah, I know where that is’, you know brake and turn a little bit earlier, but I would still be looking past the apex when I got there. Yeah, I just missed a little bit.
“For sure a bit in maybe some set-up or feeling with tires. But as I said, I would expect myself to be able to find that in a few runs in qualifying.”
Asked whether points were still possible for RB, Ricciardo replied: “I definitely think we can still do it. I think, as you said, like, everything’s close, so there’s a lot to play for.
“I think you just have that extra tenth or two in the race and manage the tires better then you can definitely be fighting in the points.
“I’ll shake off tonight and in about 60/90 minutes I’ll feel better and get getting ready for tomorrow.
“Excited to race again, definitely. I think qualifying was fun. It’s obviously intense and you get those kind of nerves again. But yeah, looking forward to the races.”
Nico Hulkenberg produced an impressive lap to make Q3, but with uncertainties over Haas’ long-run pace, Ricciardo believes that RB can aim for a top-10 race finish.
He added: “I mean obviously like Nico did a really good job today and if you look at obviously I’m not saying this last year, but if you look at last year, they’d normally struggle a bit more on race day, so if that’s the same trend, then maybe that’s one car we can potentially find.
“We weren’t too bad in the long runs. So there’s some optimism that we could kind of maybe shuffle our way towards the front.
“And it’s the first race. Anything can happen as well. So you never know. Just have to keep my head on a swivel and the rest will follow.”