Ricciardo unhappy with Turkish GP performance – “We only had four good laps”

Daniel Ricciardo was unhappy with his Turkish GP performance, and said that he enjoyed good pace for only about four laps.

The McLaren driver had one of his worst weekends at Istanbul. His practice sessions were average, and then his qualifying saw an embarrassing exit in Q1 itself. To top that, he started from the back of the grid and ended up finishing out of the points in P13.

The worst thing about the result was that he had taken a new engine, and was poised to finish in the points. He was in the running for the top ten, but a late collapse saw him finish three places below P10, completing a miserable weekend.

Ricciardo was unhappy with his Turkish GP performance, and revealed that barring four laps, his pace was simply not there.

“I think we had maybe four laps in the race where we had good pace, but the rest was hard,” he said, as quoted by f1i.com.

Ricciardo (pictured) had a weekend to forget in Turkey. Source: f1i.com

“In the beginning, we struggled a lot with front grip, so it was really hard to stay close to the others, and then we pitted for a new tyre. After that, I didn’t have great rear grip to start and was struggling, but after a while it came good.

“We had probably four good laps in that stint where I could feel like I could really push on the tyre, which was what I was looking for. Of the entire race, that was the positive.”

False hopes

Ricciardo stated that the four laps where he was quick gave him hope for a points finish, but it turned out to be a false dawn for the Honey Badger.

“I got a bit excited because I thought maybe it will just keep getting better and better, but it lasted four laps and then the rear dropped away again, so the last ten laps were a bit painful, just trying to hang on,” the Australian continued.

“Obviously, we were fighting for the points and that strategy was our best chance, but it was just really unpredictable.

“I know others went longer, with one going the entire race on one set, but at the end I saw my tyres and they were on their last legs,” he concluded.

Read more: Ricciardo apologises for his mistake at Russian GP – “I should have stopped properly”

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