Red Bull: Daniel Ricciardo sole survivor in Q3 in China
The Red Bulls were not at their best on the timed laps in China. Daniel Ricciardo saved the day with a 5th-place finish - matching Max Verstappen's performance in Melbourne - on the starting grid. Bogged down by a faulty engine, Verstappen was relegated to 19th position!
In Australia, the homegrown driver experienced a challenging qualifying session, making a mistake and ending his session in the gravel, in 10th position. His Grand Prix ultimately ended with a retirement, while his teammate secured 5th position on the starting grid and at the finish of the race. In China, the roles were reversed! Daniel Ricciardo delivered a decent qualifying performance, securing 5th position, 1.3s behind Lewis Hamilton’s pole position. This time, it was Max Verstappen who faced mechanical issues, preventing him from making an effort in Q1. He finished in 19th place.
Daniel Ricciardo, 5th in Q3 (1:33.033)
The Australian was the only driver from the Austrian team to reach Q3. Despite securing this 5th position – acknowledging that it was the maximum possible for him today – it was a somewhat relative satisfaction that accompanied him at the end of this session.
« From a personal point of view, I am happy with what I was able to get out of the car this afternoon. Obviously, as a team and as a driver, we want more. I felt so far that we didn’t have the best setup. But in qualifying, I felt relatively comfortable with the car. »
The Perth native continues his comments on the performance of his single-seater. And he knows well that his car is not currently able to compete with the Mercedes or Ferrari. And with good reason, today the Silver Arrows and Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari have widened a gap of more than a second on the Red Bull!
« I could lean more or less and as much as possible (on the setup of his single-seater), but we are still lacking in performance compared to Mercedes and Ferraris. However, I feel that we have improved the balance since this morning’s practice. We made bold changes that helped us in qualifying. »
Regarding tomorrow’s race, the Red Bull driver is clearly counting on the rain to give him a boost and change the established order. “You won’t see me disappointed if the rain comes tomorrow! Rainy conditions always create more opportunities. It will be up to me to maximize them if such a thing happens. We hope to have a good car in wet conditions. Aerodynamic downforce plays a big role in these conditions, so we will see.”
« No matter what happens, what is certain is that it will be an exciting race for the spectators and we will do everything possible to be on the podium » he concluded.
Gave it a good go today but 5th was all I was gonna get out of it. Rain tomorrow could throw a curveball ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/ZTd2MxBy1I
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) April 8, 2017
Max Verstappen 19th (17th following penalties to Grosjean and Palmer) (1:35.433)
The Dutchman had to deal with a problem with the engine on four cylinders at the start of his session, cutting off any chance to perform well and do as well as in Australia. He still attempted to complete a timed lap to try to progress to Q2. But the damage was already done. Despite this, the youngest Grand Prix winner remains optimistic – and like his teammate – he hopes that rain might make an appearance during the race.
Starting from 19th position will be very difficult. There were misfires in the engine, which caused a lack of power. I tried to complete a lap that would have allowed me to make it into Q2, but the issue prevented me. The team will look into it tonight, and I am confident in their ability to fix the problem for the race. It’s obviously unfortunate, but these things can happen, and we must move on.
Max Verstappen comments on the weather conditions and expectations for this Chinese round.
A little rain will certainly help us. But I think that even with the rain, it will still be too hard to challenge Ferrari and Mercedes. We need to focus on what we have and do our best. If the track is dry tomorrow, you lose too much time from where I am on the grid. We’ll see. I just hope to make some good overtakes and have an exciting race.
Thus, the task appears challenging for the Red Bull drivers tomorrow whether it rains or not.
Starting at the back is not what we wanted. But I’ll give it my best to move forward and try to overtake some people! #keeppushing #ChinesGP pic.twitter.com/V2U75eFlla
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) 8 avril 2017
