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Daniel Ricciardo revealed that there was something not functioning at 100% which led to a below-par race in Jeddah for him. The Australian has not had the best of starts to the 2024 F1 season. He has been out-qualified by teammate Yuki Tsunoda in both races so far.
This has had an impact on how Daniel is perceived in the F1 paddock as well, as many pundits have looked at the contrast between his weekends and Sergio Perez's. On one hand, Daniel Ricciardo has not even scored a point at either race, while Perez has two runner-up positions to show for what he's done in the first two races.
The race in Jeddah was particularly poor for Daniel Ricciardo as the driver was out-qualified by Yuki Tsunoda. In the race, he had a 41-second pitstop that dropped him to the back of the field from where he could not make up any ground. Post-race, however, while talking to the media including Sportskeeda, the Australian revealed that the RB was tackling a few issues throughout the weekend. He said:
“Honestly, we found a few things over the course of the weekend. Heading into the race you’re always upbeat and optimistic that maybe something happens, but I think it was always going to be an uphill battle. We simply don’t have everything functioning at 100%. So we see a few flaws, honestly, with the car. We’ve got to get that fixed for the next one.”
He added:
“It’s honestly some things with the car, like just when it comes to producing efficiency and everything, just a few things didn’t quite add up. Like [in] Bahrain, I knew that it was more me, like qualifying. I knew I left some time on the table. I knew I left a couple of tenths. But yesterday [Friday] when it kind of plateaus and the others keep improving, it’s also a bit of a sign. So I could feel that that was the limit of the car."
Daniel Ricciardo optimistic about his chances in Australia
Daniel Ricciardo was quite optimistic about the limitation that the car faced in Jeddah being rectified by the next race in Melbourne. The next race is going to be the Australian's home race and he was quite optimistic about what he could achieve in the car next time around.
Talking to the media, he said:
“So yeah, we did find some things afterwards, but then you’ve got Parc Fermé. To be honest, even if we didn’t have Parc Fermé, it’s probably nothing we can fix in 24 hours. So I’m sure a few things will go back to the factory and come back with a fresh car in Melbourne.”
Daniel Ricciardo needs to deliver strong performances in the coming weekends as Red Bull will be keeping a close eye on who could be Max Verstappen's teammate in 2025.
