Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he has been “frustrated” by his performance in qualifying as he looks to get off to a flying start in Sunday morning’s French Grand Prix.
Ricciardo was 11th fastest during Saturday’s qualifying session but will start two places higher after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen were given grid penalties for using new engines.
The Australian was knocked out in Q2 by just eight-hundredths of a second, while McLaren team-mate Lando Norris qualified fifth.
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Daniel Ricciardo will start ninth on the grid. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“It was close, but there are several corners where I’m offline and can’t reach [the car] doing what I want him to do,” Ricciardo said.
“So, sure, frustrated, especially when we’re close.
“We just have to have a good start and hopefully we can show good race pace and good tire management.”
Elsewhere, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth but admitted rivals Ferrari and Red Bull are in a “place of their own”.
The 37-year-old Briton, winless after 11 races this year, will line up for his 300th race on Sunday knowing he faces a fight to close a significant performance deficit.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, world champion Max Verstappen and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified ahead of Hamilton.
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Lewis Hamilton will line up for his 300th race. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“They are in a place of their own,” said Mercedes driver Hamilton.
“But we’re still here and everyone behind us is fighting, so we’re still fighting.”
He added that he was pleased to have bounced back from a shaky start to the weekend when he missed opening practice, handing his car to reserve driver Nyck de Vries for a mandatory session, and had to “play to catch up.”
“To be honest, I’m very happy with my classification. My last lap was great.
“Overall, I’m not sure why the gap has gotten bigger. They’re in a league of their own in that regard.”
He said that the anticipation of the latest update package that would bring a quantum leap in performance was wrong.
“When we said we had upgrades, we brought the smallest. It could be half a tenth of a half tenth if it was perfect,” he said.
“Last race, we were three or four tenths behind, so this weekend I thought maybe we’d be two tenths, but then we’ve been a second behind all weekend.”
Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell, who was overtaken by friend and fellow Briton Lando Norris of McLaren, finished sixth and said he had made a mistake.
“As a team, we’re probably a little further along than we expected and probably expected, especially after yesterday. I made a mistake on my last lap.
“It’s not the end of the world. I think the gap is more concerning than the final order.”
Starting grid for the French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard:
First row: Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull)
2nd row: Sergio Pérez (MEX/Red Bull) Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)
3rd row: Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)
4th row: Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine-Renault) Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Red Bull)
5th row: Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes) Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault)
6th row: Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo) Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin-Mercedes)
7th row: Alexander Albon (THA/Williams-Mercedes) Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri-Red Bull)
8th row: Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin-Mercedes) Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo)
9th row: Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas-Ferrari) Nicholas Latifi (CAN/Williams-Mercedes)
10th row: Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas-Ferrari)
Note: Sainz and Magnussen start from the back of the grid having fitted new engines to their cars.
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