Ricciardo Puzzled by Q3 Problems

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo was unable to explain why he could only manage sixth on the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Ricciardo was unable to replicate the performance of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. The Dutchman will start tomorrow’s race from second place. The Australian was fastest in Q1 and looked to be in the fight for pole position. However, his challenge fizzled out as qualifying progressed, ending Q3 0.6s behind his teammate.

“To be honest we had a little bit [engine power drop-outs] but it wasn’t the reason why we dropped so much pace in qualifying,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports. “Right now I honestly don’t have an answer. We were there, we made changes after P3 this morning. As a driver, you know immediately if a change works and in Q1 it felt like it was there and we were like ‘sweet, we are going to be in this thing.’

“It seemed like everyone else could run with it. Through Q2, Q3, find a second if not more and we just stayed as a stalemate and I don’t know why we were the only ones who couldn’t find the time right now.”

Red Bull showed impressive race pace in Friday practice, but Ricciardo believes he will only be able to move up the grid through race strategy rather than sheer performance due to the difficulties in overtaking at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

“Look, even with good pace here it’s so tricky to overtake. Look, we will try and do something. All we can hope for if the cars in front, their tyres fall away and they’re forced then to do a two-stop, otherwise, if everyone does a one-stop, hope for someone to run on the track like they did in 2015 I guess.”