Daniel Ricciardo was disappointed to be at the end of the Red Bull Racing/Scuderia Ferrari battle in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix as the Australian qualified sixth on the grid.
The Red Bull Racing driver was just 0.136 seconds shy of third placed Kimi Raikkonen but also behind Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, and feels a conservative opening sector could have cost him an even better qualifying spot.
“I feel so-so about sixth place today,” admitted Ricciardo. “I felt we made progress from Q1-Q2 and then in Q3 I was little bit disappointed with my lap. Probably didn’t get the balance right in myself.
“It’s a tough track and it’s quite a short lap so if you make a mistake in one corner it’s very hard to make up that time. I had a good first sector but was probably a little bit conservative, a couple of corners where I was trying to not make a mistake more than trying to gain some time.
“We knew quali would be tight with Ferrari in dry conditions, and it is close and I think that’s what makes it a little frustrating, but I’ll learn from that and hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race. It’s fun when it’s that close but not fun when you are the last of the bunch.
Ricciardo knew the battle with Ferrari was going to be close, but hopes to be able to turn the weekend around on race day, and is still hoping the weather can come to their aid on Sunday.
“The forecast has said all week that Sunday had the highest chance of rain, hopefully that’s true, just to spice things up a bit, and if so then we’ll try and make it exciting for everyone else and give the fans an opportunity to see a good race,” said Ricciardo. “If it rains tomorrow it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
