Daniel Ricciardo felt there was little more that he could have done during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday, with the Australian being forced to settle for sixth on the grid.
The Red Bull Racing driver was out-qualified by team-mate Max Verstappen by almost half a second around Spa-Francorchamps but found that when he attempted to push the car more in any of the sector, it compromised him in other areas.
Despite this, he hopes this means a better, more consistent set-up on RB13, and better pace for race day, where he hopes to move forward and fight for a podium finish.
“We were a bit off in Q1 but I knew there was more time and then in Q2 we got closer to the pace that we needed,” said Ricciardo. “Unfortunately in Q3, when you really start to get everything out of it, we couldn’t get much more.
“I felt like if I pushed more in one part of the track it killed me in another part so I didn’t really feel we had the car to complete one lap at 100%. I just felt a little bit limited with the balance. But I’m going to be optimistic and say, if that’s the case maybe that means we have got a more consistent car for the race.
“If we’re not getting the peak out of the tyre maybe we can sustain a relatively good pace for longer than the others, so that’s what I’m betting on.”
