Daniel Ricciardo gives take on Sergio Perez's crash in 2023 Australian GP qualifying

Daniel Ricciardo feels something went wrong with the car during Sergio Perez's crash in qualifying. The Mexican struck trouble from the third free practice session where he continued to have issues with the brakes. The situation was so bad that he ended up going off-track multiple times during the session.

When qualifying began, it was the same thing once again for Perez, as he found himself locking up, going straight on and crashing into the wall. By crashing out in the very first lap in qualifying, Perez sealed his fate and will now start the race at the back of the grid.

Talking about the crash on Channel 4, Ricciardo reckons there wasn't anything wrong Perez did that led to the crash. The Australian said that maybe there was something Red Bull might need to look into:

“It was certainly a tough day for him. He was certainly struggling this morning with, in short, stuff on braking, not being able to get a balance right there. They were having a few issues, and obviously that looks like it translated into quali. I watched the onboard, (and) it didn’t look like he sent a Hail Mary into (Turn) 3."

He added:

“It looked like a fairly normal braking point, didn’t look too ambitious, and you could kind of hear on the downshifts he was kind of reaching for the revs to try and slow the car down and wasn’t stopping. So, I think, they got a few things to look at.”

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Daniel Ricciardo about ten minutes away from being ready to race

Red Bull boss Christian Horner feels Daniel Ricciardo is only ten minutes away from being ready to race. He said at the pre-race press conference:

"I'd say he’s about 10 minutes away from being ready. He's in good shape. He's kept himself fit and well. We've had to feed him up a bit. I don't know what you guys did to him! He came back looking a bit skinny, but he's looking healthier now. I think that he's training hard, and he's ready to go given the chance."

There's still a lack of clarity over the Australian's future. He does not have a contract for next season, and the driver market is static for now. It will be interesting to see if Daniel Ricciardo can find a place on the grid next season.