Daniel Ricciardo has revealed his motivation for his blistering lap at Monza.
Ricciardo is having an improved second half of the season. It is so good that he missed out on a top 3 finish by milliseconds on two separate occasions. The first was at Spa, and the second one was recently at Monza.
During the Italian GP qualifying, the Australian set a searing lap time to sit in the top 3, which would have seen him start in the top 3 for the first time since his Red Bull days.
However, he dropped to fifth place after missing out on P3 and P4 by 0.029 seconds. He finished behind teammate Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Ricciardo revealed his motivation for his blistering lap at Monza, and how he almost held on to P3.
“Yeah, I was angry. That was just pure rage. Pure rage and wrestling the car,” Ricciardo said, as quoted by f1i.com.
“I knew there was time in the last sector. So, I knew what I had there. But, yeah, the first two were just kind of even or whatever you call it. I knew I had to pull something out in the last sector.”
Not a problem
Ricciardo and his fans will be disappointed with the result. However, all is not lost for him. The McLarens have incredible straight-line speed, and actually could take the fight to Red Bull this weekend. As a result, Ricciardo could very well climb up, and maybe even take a podium.
Ricciardo admitted that for a brief moment, he thought P3 was his. However, he was informed that was not the case by his race engineer.
“I thought it was enough, I think I was third for like a short moment in time and then it was fourth and fifth,” Ricciardo said.
“So, that was probably what hurt the most. I actually thought I was third, so, then Tom told me I was fifth and told me the gaps. Pfft!”
Read more: Ricciardo cites Dutch GP as perfect example for F1 promoters