Daniel Ricciardo was more confused than frustrated after being eliminated in Australia qualifying. The 34-year-old raised several provocative questions about his VCARB 01, suggesting there is an unknown reason for his lack of performance. Despite suffering another loss to Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo remains defiant.
In the first three qualifying sessions of 2024, Tsunoda has emerged as the fastest RB driver every time. The 23-year-old secured a second consecutive Q3 appearance, improving his head-to-head against Ricciardo to 3-0 this season.
Considering this weekend is on Ricciardo’s home turf, today’s 7-tenth deficit will be difficult to swallow. Momentum is very firmly on the opposite side of the garage.
However, the Australian held nothing back with his comments to the media post-session:
“I was happy with the lap, but I wasn’t happy with where we are in terms of the stopwatch. For me, that still isn’t adding up in my head to where it should be…
“That lap was all I had, and it was still slower. So yeah, I’ve done enough of these laps to know where I am, and there’s still some things where I think we’re missing.”
DANIEL RICCIARDO POSES SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS CAR
Ricciardo made similar complaints after the Saudi Arabia GP, prompting the Faenza-based team to make changes for this weekend.
However, he is “still a bit sceptical” about what the timing sheets are reflecting. The RB driver elaborated on his suspicions even further:
“I’m not really struggling with anything in particular, but you’ll see in some corners I’m a chunk slower – but that’s all I’ve got.
“I’ve got some thoughts, but I know a lap like that is normally… faster.”
This is a very different attitude and posturing from what Ricciardo displayed during his now-infamous stint at McLaren. He is adamant that something in his car is preventing him from showing his true speed. Such feisty comments are not those of someone who believes they are underperforming.
Regardless of how accurate this speculation is, these comments will grab the attention of Laurent Mekies’ personnel – who will be tasked with solving the problem.
Tsunoda is currently performing at a very high level, and is continuing to flourish as a driver. Time and time again, he is proving a more difficult benchmark to overcome than many anticipate.
Whilst there is still time for Daniel Ricciardo to turn things around, time is not on his side. It was a little under twelve months ago in Baku that Nyck De Vries crashed out, with the Dutchman unable to match his teammate’s efforts.
Once again, Yuki Tsunoda is putting his opposite number under pressure with strong performances in the VCARB 01.
Should today’s impressive P8 result translate into points on Sunday, it will cement the obvious trends emerging from the RB garage in 2024 so far.
