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MEXICO CITY: Daniel Ricciardo (pic) declared his Red Bull a “cursed car” after starting the Mexican Grand Prix on pole position and ending up with another retirement while teammate Max Verstappen won.

“I don’t think ‘frustration’ is the word anymore,” the Australian told reporters. “Everything feels hopeless.

“You know, honestly, now where I am, I don’t see the point of coming on Sunday.

“I don’t see the point of doing the next two races.

“I haven’t had a clean race or weekend in so long. I’m not superstitious or any of that ... but the car’s cursed.

“I don’t have any more words.” Ricciardo, who is leaving Red Bull at the end of the season for Renault and being replaced by Toro Rosso’s Frenchman Pierre Gasly, has won twice this year but also had eight retirements in 19 races.

He had been all smiles on Saturday after pip- ping Verstappen for pole but made a poor start on Sunday with wheelspin dropping him to third.

He then parked up on lap 61 with a suspected hydraulics failure.

“Things are happening on Sunday which I’ve got no more explanation for,” he said.

“The car ... I’ll let Gasly drive it, I’m done with it.”

Verstappen’s day was the opposite to Ricciardo’s, with the 21-year-old Dutchman angered by car problems that prevented him from becoming Formula One’s youngest ever pole sitter and suffering a sleepless night.

“You could see from the moment he arrived at the track this morning, you could see a real determination in his eyes,” said team boss Christian Horner.

“We sat in the briefing and we talked about scenarios and you could tell his focus was just on the start and he nailed the start.

“Daniel picked up a bit too much wheelspin and that was the difference.” — Reuters