Daniel Ricciardo’s woeful season continues after being knocked out in Q1 at his home race after violating track limits

Daniel Ricciardo's struggles in the 2024 season continue as he was eliminated in Q1 at his home race in Australia.

Daniel Ricciardo’s woeful season continues after being knocked out in Q1 at his home race after violating track limits

Daniel Ricciardo (Via: Imago)

Daniel Ricciardo has had a disappointing start to the 2024 season. The 34-year-old failed to score points in the opening two races of the season. However, fans had high expectations for the Aussie driver to score well in his home race. Unfortunately, Ricciardo’s underwhelming run continued in Qualifying at Albert Park.

During Q1 of the Australian GP, Daniel Ricciardo had set decent lap times throughout the session. The 34-year-old was running a risk of an early elimination following a slower lap time. However, during the final lap before the chequered flag, Ricciardo had one final shot to propel himself out of the elimination zone.

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The local hero managed to put in a lap time of approximately 1:17:4, good enough to boost him to the tenth spot in the pecking order. However, Ricciardo ran out too wide in turn 5 of the Albert Park circuit. As a result, the 34-year-old’s lap time was deleted and caused him to return back to the elimination zone. Additionally, Yuki Tsunoda scored a lap time to stay P8 and moved ahead to Q2.

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Laurent Mekies admits Daniel Ricciardo’s Q1 elmination ‘difficult to swallow’

Team Principal Laurent Mekies reacted to Daniel Ricciardo’s disappointing Q1 result at the Australian GP. Mekies asserted that the entire ordeal was very difficult to swallow. Additionally, the team boss highlighted that Ricciardo had done doing very well during the weekend. Unfortunately, the deleted lap time ruined his prospects.

It's very difficult to swallow, but that's the way it is. You know, Daniel was doing a very good job, it was probably his best lap so far of the weekend. It was a 17:4s, probably close to a top ten actually.
Mekies told during post-Q1interview (H&T: @SkySportsF1/X).
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo (Via IMAGO)

On the positive side, Mekies asserted that Ricciardo had been not very comfortable with the VCARB01 challenger for the majority of the weekend. The team boss explained that there was ‘more to come’ for the Australian driver. As a result, the team would hope for Daniel Ricciardo to have a better run in the race on Sunday,

The Australian GP was welcomed with great expectations for the 34-year-old driver. However, with a P18 start for the race, Ricciardo would have to push extra hard. The VCARB01 didn’t have any specific issues either and hence this result was disappointing for Ricciardo. Regardless, VisaCashAppRB would try their best to maximize results at the Australian GP.

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