Daniel Ricciardo revealed his frustration after qualifying fifth for the Monaco Grand Prix, with the Australian left to rue traffic on his out lap that prevented him from being able to get his tyres up to optimum temperature ahead of his one and only quick lap in Q3.
The Red Bull Racing driver set a time of 1:12.998s during the session but felt there was more time possible, especially as he was half a second down on team-mate Max Verstappen.
Ricciardo was unable to push as hard as he would have liked on his qualifying effort but Sunday is a different day, and he knows can move forward from fifth.
“It was a frustrating one for me today, as I think we could have done better,” said Ricciardo. “In Q3 we did one lap and we needed to push hard on the out lap to really get the tyres ready and warm, the Ultrasoft’s are not that soft here and need to be worked hard.
“We came out and had cars in front of us and it seemed like I had a gap behind me, I don’t know why we didn’t wait for that gap so that I could push in the out lap.
“So I started the lap with the tyres not where I wanted them and obviously around here that’s a big thing, as is getting it right in Qualifying. However, we will see what happens tomorrow.”
