Daniel Ricciardo appeared confused and disappointed after qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. His lap time was slower than his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, which was more painful to him than the fact that his lap was deleted for running wide. Ricciardo admitted that even with the track improving, he wouldn’t have been able to match Tsunoda’s performance. This has raised concerns about Ricciardo’s ability to perform at his best and the pressure is mounting on him to improve.
Ricciardo explained that he felt he had given his all during his lap, but it still wasn’t enough compared to Tsunoda. He was puzzled by this and couldn’t understand why his lap wasn’t as fast as he expected. He also mentioned that Tsunoda’s performance in Q2 was even more impressive, making it clear that he couldn’t have done much better. Ricciardo expressed his concern about his performance so far this season and the need to find solutions.
Ricciardo mentioned that there might be some issues with the car that could explain his performance deficit. He wants further checks to be conducted because he’s not fully convinced that the car is working properly. However, this raises concerns as it reminds us of a similar situation he faced at Monaco in 2021, where he blamed the car for his lack of pace, only to find out later that it was his driving that needed improvement.
While Ricciardo feels confident in the car overall, he admits that there are some corner speeds where he is unable to gain enough speed. He believes that the car is generally good to drive, but the lap times don’t reflect that. He made progress last year in improving the car’s characteristics to suit his style, but now he doubts whether there is something wrong with the car itself.
Ricciardo doesn’t believe there are any known differences between his car and Tsunoda’s car that could explain the performance gap. However, he will continue to ask questions and make sure that he has a car that he believes is capable of performing at its best. The team will also closely examine the car to see if there are any issues that need to be addressed. Ricciardo hopes that there is something wrong with the car that can be fixed, but there is still uncertainty about whether the problem lies with him or the car itself.