Daniel Ricciardo was able to finish the Australian Grand Prix in the points in sixth for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, but Daniil Kvyat was forced to retire before the race even began as the team suffered a sub-standard season opener at Albert Park.
Ricciardo admitted his disappointment of only finishing sixth, a lap behind the race winner Lewis Hamilton, having been unable to pass the Sauber of Felipe Nasr before seeing the Brazilian pull away from the Australian late in the race.
“It wasn’t the most exciting race,” revealed Ricciardo. “After the start I was able to stay with Nasr, but I wasn’t able to get close enough to make the move.
“We finished the race and got some points which was positive, and there are things we can learn; I think on paper sixth was the best for us today. It was a shame for Dany; I feel for him I hope we have a smoother weekend in Malaysia.”
Looking at the RB11, Ricciardo felt the team needed to address the driveability issues he has been suffering with all weekend before they can find out whether the chassis they have is strong.
“In terms of where we need to improve, the main issue is the drivability and the power, there are pretty big chunks that we know we need to find there,” added Ricciardo.
“Beyond that it’s hard, as with the chassis itself I don’t think we’ve really been able to test it to its limits yet due to the other issues we’ve had.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we have got a lot of information from this weekend which will help us ahead of Malaysia.”
Team-mate Kvyat was disappointed to suffer a gearbox issue on the way to the dummy grid that left his stranded out on circuit and unable to make the start. The young Russian, on his first race weekend as an official Red Bull driver following his move from sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso, insists he will be staying positive despite the disappointments in Melbourne.
“I had to stop on the way to the grid as we had a problem; I think it was something to do with the gearbox,” said Kvyat. “Obviously it’s not a nice feeling to watch the other drivers on track while you are here.
“From now on, it can only get better so we are staying positive. I have confidence in the team. We have another race in two weeks and will be pushing as hard as we can ahead of that.”
