The RB driver is starting to get into gear after a difficult start to the 2024 season and in Miami the Australian secured a surprising second row for Saturday morning’s round.
After finishing four tenths behind poleman Max Verstappen, Ricciardo revealed he made contact with the wall on his flying laps.
“I feel really good. I’m happy with the second row, it’s fantastic. On the first lap of SQ1 I made a mistake, so we were a bit under pressure, but we went back up from there,” Ricciardo told F1.com.
“Max was surprised to be 1st with his lap and I was 4th with mine. I expected more from the soft tyre, but it didn’t give much more than average.”
“We expected everyone to go much faster, but that wasn’t the case. I also hit the wall on both laps, so I told the team that I was trying to get the maximum result.”
“I don’t know if that made me faster or not, but we were trying and I had good confidence in the car.”
Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Ricciardo is still chasing his first points of the season and hopes he can convert his fourth place into a good haul, as the top eight are rewarded in the Sprint.
“I would like to do more than eighth for sure and get some points. We’ll see what happens. I experienced it in Mexico, starting in front is much nicer than starting 12th or 13th. Compared to the chaos of the first lap, being in front is a breath of fresh air.”
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated by finishing 15th in SQ2 after struggling to put together a reasonably clean lap.
“The pace was good in SQ1, so the car was there. We didn’t make the most of it and I probably didn’t put everything together. I think doing two flying laps would have been better for us, that’s the main problem”, comments the Japanese.
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