The Infiniti Red Bull Racing team endured a tough qualifying session at the Circuit de Catalunya, proving once more that the team have lost some of their competitiveness in 2015. Daniil Kvyat managed to out-qualify Daniel Ricciardo for the first time this season in eighth, with the Australian tenth.
Kvyat was disappointed to qualify eight despite feeling he did his best in qualifying. He hopes the upgrades the team are introducing begin to work sooner rather than later, and insists he maintains his belief in the team to turn their fortunes around.
“I did my best and so I can’t be happy with P8,” said Kvyat. “Maybe we have not got the most out of our upgrades just yet, but I’m sure the team can turn things around.
“At least this weekend, we have had a clean free practice and qualifying and, step by step we will get there.
“Nevertheless, tomorrow is the day that matters, the thing we are all fighting for and there is still everything to play for, so I can definitely aim to score some points starting from where I am on the grid.”
Ricciardo felt his qualifying session was his worst since becoming a Red Bull Racing driver, and insisted he was baffled to why he lost so much time in the final sector of the lap time. He knows with the power deficit down the straight, he will have to be clever with his strategy to get a decent haul of points on Sunday.
“I think tenth place must be my worst quali since I started with the team, so it wasn’t the best day,” revealed Ricciardo.
“I was frustrated mainly in sector 3. In Q1 and Q2 I felt it was my strongest sector, but then in the end we lost maybe half a second or more through there. And I don’t really have an explanation for why that happened. I am disappointed with the outcome, as I had hoped to be at least P7 or P8.
“From the long run I did in FP3 this morning, the car performed consistently and the balance was okay, so we should be okay on tyres tomorrow.
“We are not really quick enough down the straights, so we need a good start and then we will try and do something with strategy.”
