With promise of a good weekend for Daniel Ricciardo, he couldn’t quite match the same efforts of Spa-Francorchamps.
The Australian driver is on the hunt for his first podium since joining the French team at the beginning of the 2019 season. He was lucky to take part in the session untroubled after a fuel pump issue forced him to stop on track during final practice on Saturday morning, so to make it into Q3 was a good effort.
“I’m feeling okay with seventh place as it was quite a good recovery through the session. We were a little behind in qualifying and we didn’t really show the speed of yesterday or even this morning,” stated Ricciardo.
“It was good to reach Q3 and to get seventh means we’re in amongst it on the grid and in a position where we can fight for positions. Our car in the race is strong, so I’m confident we can pick it up a bit and have a good one.”
“There were things we could have done better” – Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon wasn’t happy with his qualifying session. Last weekend, he positioned himself in sixth place. However, this week, he couldn’t get himself out of Q2 and will start in twelfth.
Even though Ocon will be starting outside of the points, he is still hoping to come away from Monza with some.
Ocon said: “It wasn’t a great session from us today and there were things we could have done better. In Q2, I was improving and then I lost the slipstream with Daniel going off in front of me. It’s disappointing to miss out on Q3 by a small amount of time.
“It was hectic out there at times, but we knew it was going to be like that. Our performance was a bit down on what we thought, so we have a couple of things we need to sort. Tomorrow, our target is to score points.”
“We hoped for a little bit more especially after the performance last weekend” – Alan Permane
Alan Permane, Sporting Director, believes there is no reason why both drivers can’t have a good race. The Renault car has been good on fast tracks recently, so they’ll be looking to gain positions.
“We have mixed feelings today with one car in the top ten and the other just outside. It was a decent qualifying for Daniel, although, we hoped for a little bit more especially after the performance last weekend. Having said that, the times were incredibly close between a group of cars,” said Permane.
“Esteban suffered with traffic and out laps, as did a lot of other drivers. We know how finding a tow is important in Monza and there was a bit of cat and mouse out there. There’s no reason why both drivers can’t have a good race tomorrow and make up some positions.
“We remain optimistic and we’ll do the best we can on strategy to put both cars in the points.”
