Ricciardo: It’s a shame if you lose even a little bit

In the Austrian leg of the season, Daniel Ricciardo failed to qualify for the second part of the sprint qualifying, although he was only a few hundredths of a second short. Yuki Tsunoda, his partner, made it to the second session, but also had problems.

Daniel Ricciardo (16th): “This circuit has a short lap and I anticipated that there could be problems, but on the first attempt my lap went terribly. After practice we changed a lot on the car, although it is clear that when there is a sprint on the weekend programme, it is difficult to do everything correctly.

Overall, after all the changes made on the first attempt, I still felt like we were losing a lot, and in that situation there was little that could be changed. I went back to the pits and we changed the settings that could still be adjusted, especially the angle of attack of the front wing, and my second lap was definitely better.

But we still have to work on the fine-tuning and although the results are very tight, we are still trying to get as much information as possible about the working of the machine. In any case, if you lose even a little bit, it is of course disappointing.

I believe the changes we made to the settings were correct, and we will continue this work after tomorrow’s sprint, as there is still room to improve the overall balance somewhat. Overall, I try to remain optimistic…”

Yuki Tsunoda (14th): “I am not particularly happy, because my turn in the last sector of the lap during the second attempt obviously ruined a lot. The car suffered some damage and it was not the best way to qualify for the second part. This also prevented me from adapting normally and finding the right approach to driving.

It is of course a shame, but everything happened because of me and I have to take responsibility. However, we have to move on.

In practice I complained about the steering, but I think we fixed it and the spin happened for another reason. I think it all started when I went a little bit overboard going into Turn 7 and hit the kerb. The bottom of the car was already damaged then, and not during the turn.

This has reduced the downforce a little bit, although everything will have to be analysed further, but I think this was the main reason for the turn.”