Daniel Ricciardo admitted he was happy to make it through to the final phase of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, but was slightly disappointed to qualify only eighth, only 0.155s away from the top five.
The home hero revealed that he had expected Red Bull Racing to be challenging for Q3 ahead of the event, and was happy to be proved right during the session around Albert Park on Saturday.
“To make it into Q3 is good, we expected to more or less be in the top eight,” revealed Ricciardo. “Another tenth would have probably given us a couple of more positions, but that’s always the way.”
Ricciardo admitted the new-look elimination-style qualifying format was not what it should have been, with drivers out of their cars and unable to improve their laps before the chequered flag had fallen, especially in Q3 where the Australian was the first driver eliminated.
“As for the new qualifying system, Q1 and Q2 seemed okay, the clock ticking down added a bit more pressure and it might have been a bit more exciting for the fans, but Q3 didn’t seem to work as well,” said Ricciardo.
“It was a bit weird to have the session still going and all the drivers out of their cars.”