"Probably something in my driver room will get broken" - Daniel Ricciardo angry at track limits costing him a Q2 slot in the 2024 F1 Australian GP

Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated over deleted lap time which eliminated him from Q3 ahead of the 2024 Australian GP. Speaking in a team debrief, the Australian felt that despite no discomfort with the car, it was painful to lose the lap-time.

Despite being outqualified by Yuki Tsunoda for the third time this season, Daniel Ricciardo had a lap time within two-tenths of a second of his teammate. The RB driver’s lap-time was deleted for violating track limits, despite the pace to qualify into Q2. Eliminated from the first session of qualifying itself and having to start at the back of the grid has been painful, he felt.

This is the second weekend in a row where he has been knocked out of Q1 itself. While the Aussie was unhappy, team sporting director Alan Permane felt he was on pace with his Japanese teammate despite the deleted lap.

Venting his frustration after the race, Daniel Ricciardo said:

“We’ve been facing some struggles all weekend, but it’s not anything in particular. I feel the car and I’m comfortable with it, with the balance and the braking and that's why the grid position is really painful. Tomorrow will be a long race, probably it’s a two-stop one, so perhaps this will give us a bit more opportunities. I feel like I’ve got a little bit of my anger out of something, so probably something in my driver room will get broken and then I’ll feel better.”

Speaking about the Australian’s performance, Permane said:

“A bittersweet day for us today. .. A real shame for Daniel as he was right there with Yuki in Q1. To just go outside the track a little bit, of course, the rules are the rules, and he has to lose the lap, but he was right there so there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t have gone to Q3 with Yuki.”

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Daniel Ricciardo reckons he gave his 100 percent to the qualifying lap that was deleted

Daniel Ricciardo believes that he gave the qualifying attempt his best shot, maximising the potential of the car. He claimed the car had been improved with new parts but he was baffled with the time deficit to his teammate.

Admitting he went wide into turn 4 where he crossed the white line, the former Red Bull Racing driver lamented his deleted lap. Suggesting there could be more to investigate with his car, he felt he had enough experience to understand his own potential.

Speaking about his qualifying session in a team statement, Daniel Ricciardo said:

“I knew in Turn 4 I was sliding and fighting to put the car on the limit, and in that lap, I washed a little bit wider. I knew I used more kerb than I wanted on the exit, but I wasn’t sure whether it would be off track or not. I had already forgotten about it by Turn 5 and 6 until I came into the garage and Pierre told me the lap was deleted. The team put in a big effort after the weekend in Saudi and we also brought some new parts here which looked better.”

“When I crossed the line, I felt like I gave it all I had and got all I could out of it. I was happy with the lap but I’m a little skeptical because of where we are in terms of the stopwatch, as we were still slow with that lap. I have done enough laps in quali over the years to know where I am, and I think we’re still missing some things.”

Daniel Ricciardo was under tremendous pressure to perform on home soil after the underwhelming performance in Saudi Arabia. Comments from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko about his performance further added to his misery.

Although he seemed to have a narrow margin to Tsunoda, turning around his performance is going to be critical in the next few race weekends. Yet to score the first points of the season, Daniel Ricciardo has not been able to outpace his teammate in any of the sessions so far since FP1 and the race in Bahrain.