Daniel Ricciardo pinpoints one area he needs to improve on to enjoy better race weekends

Daniel Ricciardo feels that he has to work on his driving during qualifying sessions to put together better race weekends. The Australian has not had the best of starts to the season and is yet to pick up a point after six races.

The first four races were complete write-offs as he could not keep up with teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Then came the new chassis in China, and he F1 Chinese GP race weekend saw complete dominance from Ricciardo over Tsunoda, though neither driver scored points.

In the next race in Miami, Ricciardo found his form, putting together a stunning qualifying performance in the sprint. He qualified on the second row and beat quite a few cars that were expected to be faster than his. During the sprint race, Ricciardo fought valiantly and finished the race ahead of quite a few faster cars.

The race on Sunday and its qualifying session, however, did not go Ricciardo's way. He later explained that his RB is a good car but struggles to make its way through the field in a race. Looking at the future, he wants to focus on qualifying and believes doing well there would yield better results.

“It’s not the same when we’re in traffic. I was able to use the pace and have a clear track and use the downforce and the grip of the car, but in battles and with dirty air we struggle,” Daniel Ricciardo told Racer.

“It just goes back to qualifying — it’s so important. I was upset with the grip I had on that set of tires [in qualifying in Miami], but I’ll always look at myself as well and I could have still done a little bit better here and there, so I still hold myself accountable for the sessions like that.”

He added:

“We know we’re quick, but we’re not quick enough to start at the back and chop through the field. We’re simply not, so we need to qualify better.”

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Daniel Ricciardo expresses confidence despite early struggles

Talking to the media, Ricciardo explained that he didn't necessarily feel the pressure to perform, even when he was struggling early in the season. However, he was still quite confident of what he could achieve in the car and felt that he was getting closer and closer to peak performance every time.

"For sure, I was confused sometimes why we didn’t have the pace, but I wasn’t looking kind of like, ‘Oh wow, have I have I lost it? Is my time up?’ It was just so important, because I was worried that the team would start panicking so to speak," Daniel Ricciardo explained to Racer.

"So I was just dialing it home to them like, ‘Guys, trust me, we’re good. Let’s just stay on course, let’s not go crazy. Let’s not listen to too much and not receive feedback from everyone. We’re good — it’ll make sense soon.'"

Daniel Ricciardo will be looking to replicate his form from the Miami sprint when he takes to the track for the Imola GP.