“I’ll fire myself into the top 10 early”: Daniel Ricciardo shares ‘mixed emotions’ after marginally missing out Q3 in the Japanese GP

Daniel Ricciardo is motivated for a points finish in the Japanese GP despite the mixed feelings after being outqualified by Yuki Tsunoda.

After the qualifying session in Japan, the Australian admitted to being unhappy with the qualifying result but is encouraged by the prospects for a potential points finish in the race.

In the first qualifying session, Daniel Ricciardo was quicker than Yuki Tsunoda by 0.048 seconds. However, in the second session, he got out-qualified by the Japanese driver by a 0.055-second margin. Without any running in FP1 or FP2, the Australian had a single practice session ahead of qualifying to get track time in Suzuka. On Friday he was replaced by Ayumu Iwasa for FP1 and the FP2 was cancelled due to rain.

Regardless of the narrow margin, Daniel Ricciardo was unhappy with the fact that he was beaten by his teammate for the fourth time this season in qualifying. Despite the lack of running available on Friday, he felt there were positives to take. The margin between him and Tsunoda narrowing down is probably the bigger takeaway for the 34-year-old, who was dejected after his home race in Melbourne.

Speaking to F1 TV, Daniel Ricciardo took positives from the qualifying session and said:

“After yesterday, to come out today and have a strong showing, we’ve got to take that. It’s obviously been a bit of a steady start to our year, so a day like this certainly isn’t a win, I’m not going to go that far. But we do see some positives in it. And our race pace has been alright, clean side of the grid tomorrow, I’ll fire myself into the top 10 early.”

Describing his feelings after being narrowly ousted from Q2, he said:

“Mixed emotions, because I think like deep down, if we forget the scoreboard, so to speak, I think it was a good session. We didn’t get any dry running yesterday, so we had a few laps this morning to get into it, including a spin, and then obviously quick work to find those few tenths in quali. Yeah, for that, I’m pleased with us being pretty much there, but, it’s not Q3. So that’s where I was, it’s been what, 10-15 minutes, so I’ve calmed down a little bit. But no, not that I was angry, but the competitor in me, of course I knew I was P10 and when you get bumped by it just a little bit, it would have been nice to give the guys a boost, but I think honestly, they all seemed pretty happy.”

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Daniel Ricciardo is optimistic for a points finish in the Japanese GP

Daniel Ricciardo is optimistic about a points finish at the Suzuka circuit in Japan and feels that a good start will be key to capitalizing on opportunities during the race. Although he would've wanted to out-qualify Tsunoda in Japan, a good race result would be a redemption for the Australian, who has experienced a slump in the last two races.

His qualifying performances have been underwhelming in the past three races, but in terms of race pace, he has been on par with his teammate or quicker. Unable to have a clean weekend since Bahrain, he has had a tough time achieving the desired results so far.

Speaking in a post-qualifying team statement, Daniel Ricciardo said:

“I really think points are possible, so I’ll aim to be in the top 10 in Lap 1 as well as in Lap 53.”

Speaking to F1 TV, he summarised his optimism for the race ahead.

“We’re obviously there on the cusp of points, and after a good start, we’ll be in there and not let them go, so points tomorrow.”

In the hunt for his first points finish of the 2024 season, Daniel Ricciardo is eager to turn around his performance woes. He had mentioned that there were some changes made to his car ahead of the Japanese GP and is also set to receive a new chassis for the Chinese GP. For Japan, RB has introduced new floors on both cars as a part of their first upgrades of the season. So far their race pace is anticipated to be good, putting the Australian in a good position for the race tomorrow.