Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo felt frustrated that he could only manage sixth fastest in today’s qualifying with a car that he felt he and the team got everything out of.
Ricciardo and team-mate Max Verstappen will lock out the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix. The Australian felt as though his laps would be much closer to Lewis Hamilton’s pole time, but they were both off the pace. As usual, the Red Bulls look stronger in the long runs, and so are hoping to have better race pace.
Tyres have been a big talking point this weekend, with many drivers finding the soft tyre faster than the supersoft compound. Ricciardo commented that the tyres felt similar given the performance they afforded but still tried qualifying runs on both to see what they could do.
“I really think we got the most out of the car this afternoon,” he commented.”
“I tried both the soft and supersoft tyre in Q3 but we have been more comfortable on the soft all weekend. At the start of Q3 I did a pretty good time on the supersoft, but for me, I didn’t think we could go quicker on that tyre, so I wanted to try the soft again.
“I went a bit quicker on the soft but not enough to make up any positions. It was strange, I think the colours are different, but the tyres are pretty much the same. I’m glad I tried both compounds because if I did both runs on the super I probably would have wondered what the soft could have done, so I think we did everything we could.
“With the laps we put in I thought we would be more like a couple of tenths from pole, not six or seven, as our car didn’t feel too bad which is a little frustrating. We are always a bit more comfortable on the long runs, so I would hope that our race pace tomorrow is better and we can challenge the four cars in front.”
