“We've definitely been close”: Daniel Ricciardo talks about losing out to Yuki Tsunoda in qualifying of 2024 F1 Saudi Arabia GP

Daniel Ricciardo reckoned that he hasn’t been too accustomed to his car in Saudi Arabia. Speaking to media, including Sportskeeda, the Australian vented his frustration after not being able to qualify for the top 10.

Daniel Ricciardo qualified 14th on the grid, despite being close to Yuki Tsunoda during the qualifying session. He sensed that there were areas where he might have faced difficulties in performance, unlike his Japanese teammate.

The 34-year-old was positive that five-tenths was not the actual gap between him and his younger teammate. He lamented at his inability to convert the performance into a good result, knowing they had a car worthy of points finish.

When questioned by Sportskeeda about concerns regarding the optics of the results or whether there was an aspect where Tsunoda managed to unleash the car's potential, Daniel Ricciardo responded:

"I mean, honestly, up until this point, no, like I think we've definitely been close. But obviously he did a good job, so I'm definitely not saying he didn't, but it's not like, yeah, he's been really comfortable and I haven't been."

"I mean, I think we've both got our strengths and weaknesses. But I think yeah coming into quali, it was pretty evenly matched. And in Q1, It looked the way and then he and pretty much everyone else was able to make that step and we simply struggled," the Aussie added.

Ricciardo continued:

"Look, obviously there's frustrating with being that far behind. The frustration that comes with it and being 14th and when we're obviously fighting for points, it doesn't help. But before I think about the race, I want to really dive into that session and see what there is because yeah, I know that's not the gap."

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Daniel Ricciardo believes his performance ‘flatlined’ in the final session of qualifying

Frustrated with the result where Yuki Tsunoda out-qualified him by half a second, Daniel Ricciardo was baffled that he lost lap-time against his teammate. He felt that maybe there were areas of performance he had to figure out with this team.

The Red Bull driver speculated that the performance of his car reached a plateau beyond a certain threshold. He argued that the half-second gap with his teammate wasn't truly reflective and expressed confidence in his ability to overcome it.

Asked about his session and where he lost lap time, Ricciardo explained:

"Yeah, very frustrating. You know, I think last week I was frustrated just more with myself because I knew there was time on the table. Of course, the car is never going to be perfect, but I knew last week was on me. But today is honestly a bit more of a mystery, I would say."

"The balance, okay, a few corners which, of course, you struggle a little bit here and there, but... but simply in Q2 when everyone's able to find even half a second or something, we just plateaued. So I felt like I couldn't get any more out of it with what I had."

The Aussie continued:

"It wasn't like I had massive understeer or oversteer, it was simply just we didn't have what felt like grip compared to the others. So even like if I had another set of tyres now, or even if I got into Q3, I'm not saying yeah, a new set I'll find that's time, I simply don't know where."

"I know where the time was but I don't know how we could have got it in that session. So a little bit to figure out I think we know a few areas even before the session but yeah that one was a frustrating one," he added.

Expressing frustration at the gap between him and Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo said:

"Yeah and look I honestly can't into qualifying, I was feeling confident and I think Q1. RUN1, we were kind of where we were there and then RUN2, I made a mistake but we were still in the fight and I was like, Okay, a couple corners I made some mistakes so there's a bit of lap time and then we just flatlined."

"So yeah, it's something we need to probably get on top of but I'm not... Yeah. yeah, I'm hopeful we find a little bit of something 'cause half a second is kind of crazy," he added.

In the free practice sessions, Daniel Ricciardo was quicker than Tsunoda for most of the time, but quickly switched to race runs. However, in qualifying, the duo were evenly matched to the extent that the Australian did have the upper hand at a certain point until his teammate outperformed him.

Given the race between the RB driver duo to land a Red Bull Racing seat for 2025, consistent performances from Ricciardo will be key to him returning to his former seat.