Daniel Ricciardo claims Spanish GP “really, really strange” for RB after dropping down despite new upgrades
Daniel Ricciardo admitted that RB were disappointed by their disappointing weekend in Barcelona.
Daniel Ricciardo (Via: Imago)
The Spanish GP was yet another disappointing performance for RB. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda finished the race at 15th and 19th position. Ricciardo suggested, there was no need to change the upgrades in Spain despite a ‘really strange’ dropped in their performance.
Daniel Ricciardo described the Spanish GP as extremely strange weekend due to significant decline in performance. He mentioned that during qualifying, both he and Teammate Yuki Tsunoda felt they had performed well. They didn’t felt any major issues with car’s handling as Ricciardo said car’s balance wasn’t bad. Despite this, they were shocked by how much their performance dropped during the race. The Australian was puzzled, because he couldn’t find any reason why their car suddenly became slower during the race weekend.
It was a really, really strange weekend for us to have dropped off so much, I didn't have a bad feeling in qualifying. In the debrief Yuki and myself both felt we did good laps, we felt like the balance wasn't bad.Daniel Ricciardo said, as reported by motorsport.com
Ricciardo reckoned, that they didn’t used the new upgrades they introduced to the car fully. The Australian mentioned he was fully satisfied with his performance during the race, but finishing in 15th wasn’t something he could feel good about. Daniel Ricciardo’s expectations about the race was more than what he achieved. He highlighted, that he personally felt good about his driving, but the team needs to improve to achieve better results.
Honestly I felt good in the race. I was happy with what I got out of it, but 15th is not something that we can be happy about.Daniel Ricciardo stated
Yuki Tsunoda claimed he experienced a ‘weird’ feeling inside his RB car.
Yuki Tsunoda acknowledged that there was a problem at the beginning of the race, which seemed to affect his performance at the second stint of the race. The team fixed the steering issue but the 24-year-old felt uncertain if it was fully resolved, as he still felt uncomfortable driving.
There was a clear issue in the beginning. We were able to solve it at least in steering, but I'm not sure it was fixed completely because I was feeling so weird inside the car.Yuki Tsunoda stated
Further, The Japanese driver explained, The car’s overall speed was lacking and he had to face troubles finding the right balance. He mentioned, the car just didn’t feel right and it wasn’t drivable and there was definitely something going wrong. Yuki Tsunoda explained, how in qualifying session the car’s balance was decent. However, Tsunoda felt to much sliding and car didn’t seem to have enough downforce that could’ve helped him out.
The pace was nowhere, I struggled with the balance, everything. For sure there was something wrong going on there.In qualifying the balance was okay, but just too much sliding and I didn't feel much downforce.Yuki Tsunoda explained
Certainly, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo had high hopes after their strong qualifying sessions, expecting a better result on Sunday. However, things did not go as planned, and they ended up disappointed with finishes of 15th and 19th place.
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Armaan Agarwal
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