Friday’s pace-setter at the Hungaroring, Daniel Ricciardo, will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from sixth position having missed much of Free Practice 3 with electrical failure in his Red Bull Racing RB13.
The issue during the final practice session meant that he was unable to do a qualifying simulation, which left him a little green heading into the session, and after leading the way on the Friday, Ricciardo felt he could have been a genuine pole-position contender.
“When you miss out on track time in any session it has a knock-on effect and the time we lost this morning in FP3 definitely cost us in Qualifying,” says Ricciardo.
“We had to guess what the track would be like this afternoon and make set-up changes based on that. In Q1 we had quite a different car to yesterday but even so we thought higher than sixth was possible.
“We are in the top three teams so to qualify sixth is basically last for us.”
Although he was forced to settle for sixth on the grid, just 0.542 seconds off the pole time, the Australian still believes that he can reach the podium in Sunday’s race at the Hungaroring.
“My quick lap wasn’t as clean as I would have liked so it’s partially the car and partially me but come tomorrow I think we can still get stuck in and challenge the other guys,” said Ricciardo.
“A podium is possible in my mind. I am surprised by the pace of the Ferraris, we knew they would be stronger today but we also thought we would be closer. With the updates we have had here I’m looking forward to tomorrow, the car is in good shape to race so I think it will be fun and we can move forward.”
