Dramatic Styrian GP qualifying pace drop-off “a mystery” to Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo says it is “a bit of a mystery” that he struggled for pace during qualifying for Formula 1’s Styrian Grand Prix after enjoying a solid day on Friday.

Lewis Larkam

26 Jun 2021

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) McLaren MCL35M.
© xpbimages.com

The McLaren driver made a strong start to the weekend on Friday and ended second practice P2 in the timesheets, but that performance failed to carry over into qualifying as he was eliminated in Q2.

Ricciardo could only manage a time good enough for 13th on the grid, while teammate Lando Norris will start third, having lapped eight-tenths of a second faster than the Australian.

“It’s a bit of a mystery, actually,” Ricciardo said. “We were obviously quick yesterday, and I know it's only Friday practice, I don't expect to be fighting for pole position today.

“But obviously we were pretty comfortable with everything. We put the car on track today and we are one second slower, pretty much. Then qualifying I think was a product also of this morning, we were just off the pace.

"Why? Not sure. But it was definitely one of those days, a bit of a frustrating one. So we'll obviously try to understand why and how. It's not like there was a lot of time here or there, it was just a little bit of lap time everywhere, and you try and try and improve a bit.

“But I just felt like everything I did, I was not really able to gain anything else out of the car.”

Ricciardo revealed he made minor changes to his car overnight but does not feel that impacted his qualifying performance.

“We fine-tuned a little bit,” he explained. “But nothing crazy, nothing which should explain being so far off today.

“And you obviously change the car to try to be quicker! So we definitely didn't expect this today.”

But Ricciardo is determined to make up for his Saturday disappointment in the race and hopes having free tyre choice will play into his hands.

“Obviously the quali is done, so we have to certainly look to tomorrow,” Ricciardo added.

“The one positive with being out in Q2 is you have a free tyre choice. So we'll obviously try and try and play around a bit there.

“But yeah, it's always a bit confusing from one day to the next, and obviously not a whole lot changed today with weather or temperature. But I guess everything's very, very sensitive at the moment."